Life With A Knight and Dragon
by WalkersMadHouse
Summary: Sequel to A Return Worth Waiting For. The story follows with Natsu and Erza into the main story with some differences. Rated M for safety, Gore, Swearing, and MINOR adult themes.
1. The Salamander Rumor

**So here is the official sequel to _A Return Worth Waiting For._ While you don't have the read the prequel, it's recommended to know the changes I've made. Anyways, I do hope you enjoy. Please know while this story is rated M, it's for safety reason as it will contain swearing, some gore, and minor adult themes. **

Talking – "Quotations"

Thoughts –_ 'Italics with contractions'_

Important words, people, etc. – **Bold**

Spells – **Underlined and bold**

_**The Life of a Dragon and Knight**_

_**Chapter 1: The Salamander Rumor**_

To many, it was a fairly…average day. Assuming average means a brawl going on between the two signature members of a guild. The fight going on between the two members were that of two young men. One with spiky raven hair while the other has spike rose colored hair. Many people were simply laughing at what caused it. The cause of such an event being a muscular white haired man pushed into the rose haired mage while flaunting about manliness; causing the rose haired mage to stumble and head butt the raven haired mage.

"I'm going to kick your ass Flame-Brain!" The raven haired mage roared as he furiously tried to pound the rose haired mage into the ground.

"Like that will ever happen Ice-Queen!" The rose haired mage, 'Flame-Brain' retorted. The fight went on with the two crawling all over the ground beating on each other until a certain red-head stood over the two fighting.

"Now, now Natsu. What have I told you about fighting?" The red-head calmly asked as she picked up Natsu by the back of his vest, him struggling to escape from her grasp. She normally would have pummeled the two of them for their antics a year ago but now she simply ends it in ways some people wonder if it's really the same fearsome Titania from a year ago.

"Come on Erza! Let me at 'em this one time!" the rose haired mage, now identified as Natsu, desperately retorted, struggling to get back to fighting with his friend/rival, who was getting off the ground, prepared to resume their fight.

"Hah! As if you could win Flame-Brain." The raven haired mage insulted with a smirk on his face. Natsu simply raged comically, with fire spewing out of his mouth as he rambled incoherently while the Titania female held him up, dangling by the back of his vest.

"Natsu, Stop. Now. You too Gray." Erza glared, ceasing any resistance from the dragon slayer and ending any smart remarks from the ice mage. "Now, let us be off Natsu." She continued and dropped Natsu and turned towards the door, with Natsu starting to follow her.

Minutes later as the pair walked towards the train station, Natsu had to ask. "Why are we going to **there** again?"

"Don't you remember Natsu? There's a rumor saying there's a 'salamander' there. It could be your father!" Erza said in more carefree tone, wanting to help Natsu reunite with his father at all cost.

"But it could just be someone trying to use my name." Natsu said in a monotone voice.

"True." Erza said, closing her eyes with a thinking look on her face, "But if that's the case, we'll just beat them up." With that ended, the pair continued to walk towards the train station in silence, Erza not thinking about anything in particular and Natsu wondering how he heard the rumor.

* * *

_**Flashback**_

_Natsu was for once, not doing much at the guild simply talking to Mira about what kind of flaming food he should have with Erza sitting right next to him at the bar eating her cake. Flaming meat seemed to be the preference for him, nothing else. Soon though someone called out to the Salamander._

"_Oi! Natsu!"_

_Natsu turned toward the voice. "Yes Wakaba?"_

"_I heard a rumor that may pertain to your father." The man stated with a small smile on his face._

_Natsu's eyes lit up somewhat. It may be a rumor, but it was good enough for him; even Erza turned a head, quite yearning to help Natsu find his father._

"_It's said that there's a certain Salamander in Hargeon Port. It could be nothing but I'd say it's worth a check." The middle aged man stated._

"_Alright! I'm heading out!" Natsu said, apparently all up and ready to go find his foster-father. That is, until a certain female hand held him down by the shoulder._

"_How about you wait a short bit and I shall accompany you?" Erza said with a small smile at him. "It should take no more than an hour"_

* * *

_**End of Flashback**_

Arriving at the train station, the two got onboard and found a compartment for themselves and sat down directly across from each other. The two simply sat in silence until the train started to move, in which the rose haired dragon slayer turned slightly green.

"Still haven't gotten over your motion sickness I see." Erza said softly.

"Ugh. I've….been working….on it. It's getting….better." Natsu tried to answer, trying to contain his lunch. Erza soon got up and walked over and sat right next to him, push him into her, so he could have something to lean on. She no longer let him lay on her lap since they were together. With that the two ended up in a position where Erza was slightly laying on the seat up against the window with Natsu laying up against her stomach already sleeping contently; apparently finding Erza **very** comfortable to lay on.

Erza smiled contently at this. _'You say that, yet here you are still sick and laying on me, asleep.' After about an hour of unconsciously stroking her hand through Natus's hair, Erza finally lost herself to sleep. Unknown to her, one of the stops between then and their destination, a certain blue haired bookworm entered the train and saw the couple sleeping peacefully in their compartment._

* * *

_**The Next Day**_

Walking through the streets of Hargeon, a young woman, with blonde hair, came upon a general store. A store she was hoping to find certain…items.

"Is this really the only magic store in town?!" The blonde asked herself quite appalled that such a sizeable city had only one magic shop.

"Ah! A customer! Good afternoon!" the shop owner greeted enthusiastically, rather uplifted since today was a slow day for the owner.

"Hello!" The young woman greeted.

"Is there anything I can help you find today, or are you just looking around?" The store owner asked politely

"Ah, now that you ask, I'm looking for specific items." The female stated, "Gate keys to be exact."

"Oh? A Celestial mage? Well, not many people here use magic but I do happen to have one! It's the **Gate of Canis Minor**. It's not very strong I'm afraid." The shop owner apologized.

"It's ok! I've been looking for this one anyways." The young female replied cheerfully. "How much?"

"20,000 jewels." The shop owner stated

The blonde's heart stopped for a moment, unable to comprehend the price. She instead, decided to ask to make sure. "Umm, sorry. How much did you say?" She asked, hopefully not dreading what she heard.

"20,000 jewels." The shop owner stated, somewhat annoyed his potential customer didn't listen the first time.

The blonde groaned in frustration. _'I really don't want to spend that much.'_ With that, the female the female leaned seductively over the counter, displaying more cleavage with her outfit than necessary. "20,000 even for a young girl like me?" She purred seductively.

* * *

_**With Natsu and Erza**_

"I can't believe you left me on the train….again!" Natsu whined comically at the red-head. It took 20 minutes before Erza was able to catch up to the train to stop it. Afterwards, the two walk through the streets looking for any signs of the rumor they heard of a 'salamander'.

"I said I was sorry!" Erza complained back, still trying to stifle a laugh from how Natsu was acting towards her. The two were walking endlessly, searching for any signs of the rumor before they heard some chatter from a couple civilians.

"Did you hear? The famous Salamander is here in town." An enthusiastic male asked one of his friends

"Yeah I did actually. He is very popular, I was going to go see him but he was surrounded by a crowd of fan-girls." The other male replied.

'_Charm magic eh? That's illegal. Well, it's not Igneel but we should check this out anyways.' _Erza thought, before turning to her rose haired companion. "Come Natsu, we have something of importance to do now."

"But I thought we were looking for Igneel?" Natsu complained

"He's not here. We came here on a rumor of a Salamander, but I just heard that he was here in town apparently using Charm Magic on various women to get attention. We have to stop him." Erza explained before walking ahead leaving Natsu to catch up.

* * *

_**With the 'Blonde Female'**_

"Only a reduction of 1,000 jewels!? Is my sex appeal only worth that much!?" The blonde teenager raged comically, storming off in a random direction in town.

"Look! It's Salamander!" A random woman squealed in delight. This caught the blonde's attention as she saw other females soon rush over to form a crowd around a single person.

"Hahaha! Now ladies, there's plenty of me to go around." A carefree male voice rang out in response to his 'fan-base'.

This quirked the blonde somewhat. Especially at the somewhat cocky attitude of the male. She came upon the crowed and tried to look over the heads of all the people. _'Dammit! I can't see anything!'_ She slowly nudged herself into the crowd to get a better look at this 'salamander'. To her surprise she came upon a fairly handsome blue haired man with an 'X' like tattoo above his right eyebrow. Upon gazing upon him, she immediate felt her heart race.

"Oh? What do we have here? My, my, are you are quite the looker milady." 'Salamander' stated, talking directly to the blonde female.

"You there!" A stern female voice rang out. The crowd of fan-girls parted to show a red-headed woman and a rose-haired man coming this way.

"You were right. It's not Igneel as I would have hoped." The rose-haired man said, somewhat downed.

"I told you that the moment we started hearing the talk around town." Erza retorted.

Something clicked in the blonde, as if she was taken out of a trance? '_Huh? What the? For a moment I felt like I was in love? Was this…charm magic? But that's illegal! But, perhaps he just uses it to be popular…' _The blonde thought as she was released from the effect of the charm magic.

"You. Are you the one everyone calls 'Salamander'?" The Titania asked with a small amount of force behind her voice.

"Isn't it obvious?" The blue-haired man replied as he motioned to his fan-girls who grew bigger hearts in their eyes. "Would you like an autograph?" He asked, somewhat cockily.

"That can wait. Tell me, what guild are you from?" Erza asked with authority.

"You haven't heard?" one of the random surrounding women yelled.

"He's from the famous Fairy Tail guild!" Another screamed out.

That settled it for the couple. An evil smirk appeared on the red-head's face. "Oh? Is that so?" She asked with an evil tone. "It's funny. We're a part of the same guild, yet…I find it quite odd that I have never seen your face before." She stated, her smirk growing larger and her face darkening.

Inwardly the 'Salamander' was freaking out. '_Shit! This isn't good! I guess I can't blame anyone else since sooner or later the real guild was going to find out.'_ He had to do something. **Fast.** "Hahaha! That's a nice one!" He laughed as if they were telling a joke.

"It wasn't a joke." Erza stated darkly. With that, she pulled up the sleeve to the black turtle neck sweater she was wearing to reveal a dark blue Fairy Tail stamp on her left arm while Natsu took off his red jacket **[A/N: The jacket he wears at the first chapter/episode]** to reveal a red Fairy Tail stamp on his right arm. This caused the 'Salamander' to visibly sweat; there was no good way out of this for him. "Let me tell you one more thing." Erza continued as she saw what the effect of showing their guild marks had on the imposter, "This man behind me, is the **real **'Salamander' of Fairy Tail." Natsu in response to that, grinned widely, raised his right hand up and set his fist ablaze.

The blonde female was looking at the scene in awe. The man she thought was the 'Salamander' was actually a fake trying to use the name to get famous; on top of that he was called out on it by two **real** Fairy Tail mages. _'That sure didn't look good on him.'_ The blonde inwardly smirked.

The fake 'salamander' was sweating bullets and soon lost the ability to think rationally as he lashed out. "Agh! Damn you!" He charged at Erza with the intent to beat her senseless. That is, if he wasn't met face first with the fist of said woman; stopping him dead in his tracks and sending him to the ground in a daze.

"Hmph. Weak." Erza smirked at how easy the man was taken down. She then turned to Natsu who looked bored. Apparently he was looking for a good fight. "Come Natsu. Let's head home." Natsu nodded and turned to start walking to the train station.

"Wait!" A female voice rang out. Causing the pair to stop and turned to the source of the voice.

"Yes?" Natsu asked in his still bored voice.

"Allow me to thank you." The blonde woman stated

Natsu and Erza had confusion written all over their faces as they stared comically at the teenager. "For what?"

"For helping out with that Charm Magic earlier. At least let me treat you to food." The blonde requested.

The couple did not know what the blond was talking about in the least. However, they could not deny free food. They both haven't ate for the majority of the day.

"So you guys are from the Fairy Tail guild?" The blonde asked in wonder.

"Yep." Erza answered with a smile while Natsu was busy mowing down all the dishes in front of him; some of the dishes being the plates included.

The blonde woman soon realized something wrong. "Oh! My apologies! I'm Lucy by the way." The blonde, now identified as Lucy introduced herself.

"Oh it's no worries." Erza said with a slight laugh. "I'm Erza Scarlet and this here is Natsu Dragneel."

Natsu stopped eating and gave his signature toothy grin, "Nice to meet ya!"

"So Lucy, is it safe to assume you can perform magic as well?" Erza asked quite curious seeing as he the blonde teenager was aware she was under the influence of Charm Magic.

"Uh-huh. I'm a mage as well. I'm a wandering mage at the moment however since I'm still looking for a guild to join. I was actually wanting to join your guild." Lucy said with a hopeful look.

"Is that so?" Erza said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah! Though, I'm not sure I can do it, I bet it's extremely hard to join a guild such as yours." Lucy said a bit sadly.

"Nonsense. You will get in no problem!" Natsu practically yelled, gaining the attention of the other customers at the restaurant they were at.

"Really!?" Lucy asked with stars in her eyes at the possibility of joining the guild she has so longed to join.

"Of course! Almost anyone can join our guild." Natsu confirmed with a smile on his face.

"Yay! I want to hug you now!" Lucy said in an over exaggerated tone as she reached across the table, eyes closed, to give Natsu a hug, only to feel nothing. She opened her eyes to see Erza clinging to Natsu in a comical fashion.

"He's mine. Back off." Erza said both darkly and comically.

"Y-y-yes ma'am." Lucy saluted, quite scared at the red-head's possessiveness.

"Well. We better find a place to stay for the night. We'll leave in the morning back to the guild if you want to follow us then." Erza stated as she got up from the table with Natsu and walked away.

"Thanks for the food!" Natsu looked back with a grin and waved.

"Oh, no problem!" Lucy replied. '_There goes that 1,000 jewel discount'_ she internally lamented.

* * *

_**Later That Evening**_

"So, we're heading back in the morning?" Natsu asked with his hands behind his head while walking next to his female companion.

"Yes. I'd figure it best we just stay here the night, leave in the morning, and arrive during the day rather than the night." Erza answered. "That and it would give us time for our potential new guild mate time to prepare to join us."

"Yes, well, she has every ri-" Erza was interrupted by a couple locals standing a small distance away.

"Did you hear? The Salamander is having a party on his cruise ship!" The local said with enthusiasm. "Sadly. I wasn't invited."

"Hahaha! Only the more popular people or beautiful women got invited. I hear he carried a beautiful sleeping blonde with him." Another local replied.

Erza's face darkened at this. "Does he ever learn?"

Natsu just shrugged with a confused look on his face. "Guess not. It also appears he may have Lucy."

"Yes, but there are more than just one blonde female in this city." Erza stated as she marched her way to the two locals, knocking over a couple of bystanders who got in her way. "You there! Where is this ship?"

"U-uh it's… uh…" He said no more as he was met with a head butt from the Titania; shocking the person the other local besides her.

"I find this oddly counterproductive…" Natsu noted with a smirk.

"Shut it you tiny dragon." Erza retorted as she turned her attention to the next local, leaving Natsu to rage comically at the insult. "Now, tell m-" She started before being interrupted again; this time by something she was glad.

"It's just right over there!" The man pointed to his left, causing the redhead to look in the direction he was pointing, her eyes settling on an illuminated ship in the bay. Erza proceeded to drop the man and started walking towards the beach with Natsu in tow.

"Care to give me a lift?" Erza asked

"Don't you have armor that allows to you the ability of flight?" Natsu asked both curious and annoyed that she wanted him to fly her to the ship.

"I do, but it's much more fun when I can sit on your back while you fly." Erza said with a soft smile.

"Fine." Natsu relented closing his eyes while sighing, "Just know I'm simply dropping you off. I'm not getting on that death trap."

"Good enough for me. Now let's go!" Erza commanded.

"Right." Natsu saluted crouching down allowing Erza to hoist herself on his back as he lit his feat ablaze; providing himself with the proper thrust to send him into the air. Upon reaching his desired height he lit his hands ablaze to keep his balance and direction.

"Just drop me off when you get over it" Erza yelled over the sound of wind hitting the two. Natsu nodded and increased speed as he got over the ship before he slowed down to allow Erza to properly align herself with the jump-to-be-made. _'Here I go.'_ She gave a thought as she jumped off.

'_Where….where am I?'_ Lucy asked to herself as she slowly shook herself awake. She moved to stretch her arms but realized she couldn't. _'Huh. I must have slept wrong.'_ She thought. That is…until she saw her arms were bound behind her back. "What the hell is this!?"

"Oh? Awake already." A familiar male voice called out. Causing Lucy's head to shoot forward to see the fake 'salamander' walk towards her with a cocky smirk on his face.

"You!" Lucy sneered.

"Yes. Me!" 'Salamander' laughed.

"Where am I?" Lucy asked angrily.

"Oh, if you must know, you're on my ship. Now before you start screaming and trying to lash out, let's be civil. After all, I don't want to have to brand you like I will the others." The blue haired man said with an evil smile.

In response to this, Lucy fully took in her surroundings and saw a couple other young women similarly bound, but still unconscious with a couple of guards near them. "This is…a slave ship?" Lucy asked in shock to no one in particular.

"That's right." The blue haired man answered before he pulled something out from behind him. A brown leather pouch. "I believe these were yours." He stated plainly.

"Ah! My gate keys!" Lucy exclaimed.

"I thought you were a Celestial Mage when I saw these on your person. However, if my assumptions are accurate, gate keys require a contract with their summoner; meaning other people like me can't use them. Therefore they are…" He then took the keys and threw them out an open window of the ship, intro the ocean. "USLESS!"

Lucy almost snapped at this. Mostly out of sheer terror at how a certain one of her spirits will react when 'it' learns she lost 'its' key. "You bastard! How could you!?" Lucy shrieked.

"Jeez, so noisy. Maybe I will have to brand you like all the others." He said rubbing the back of his neck before lighting his index finger in a deep blue/purple flame.

A loud crash rang through the ship as a female figure with scarlet hair. "I knew you were suspicious, but to think you were transporting people to be slaves." The young woman sneered.

"Erza!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Hey! Don't I get any recognition?!" Natsu's voice slightly rang out from the hole in the ships ceiling.

"Yeah, yeah Natsu." Erza mumbled with a bored look before she turned her attention to the 'salamander'.

"Boss! Do you even know who that woman is!?" one of the 'salamander's' men shouted in sheer shock.

"Eh? What?" The blue-haired man looked at one of his men with a dumbfounded look.

"S-s-she is the Titania Fairy Queen of Fairy Tail!" The man exclaimed.

Erza, upon hearing this looked at the group of human traffickers with an upmost evil smile.

For minutes on end, a sound of men screeching from sheer terror and pain, metal cracking, slicing, and blowing up. The blowing up courtesy of Natsu flying overhead while launching attacks from the sky.

* * *

_**One Hour Later**_

"Thanks for saving me you two." A blonde teenager thanked.

"No problem Lucy! Though it was more Erza than me that helped." Natsu exclaimed with his signature grin. The sounds of a collapsing clock tower echoing behind him while Lucy's eyes just bulged out of her head when she noticed the destruction he caused with one attack.

"You over did it!" Lucy screeched.

"Really? I think I kept it to a minimum compared to other times." Natsu deadpanned while rubbing his ear."

"Nonetheless, you could have not used that attack Natsu." Erza said with a soft smile towards her rose haired companion, looking at a large trench like hole that lead all the way to the ruins of the clock tower, the fake 'salamander' lying in the middle of it all.

Natsu simply scratched his head with a sheepish laugh.

"You three, halt this instance!" A stern male voice rang out. Causing the trio to look in the direction of the voice. The voice coming from one of…what appeared to be hundreds of rune knights.

"Crap! Rune knights!" Lucy screeched.

"Let's go Natsu!" Erza commanded, grabbing Natsu by the hand and running off.

"Come on Lucy!" Natsu yelled back as he was being dragged away by the scarlet haired woman.

"Huh why?" Lucy asked, geniuinely confused as she followed them.

"You said you wanted to join Fairy Tail right?" Natsu asked while he was struggling not to trip with how hard Erza was pulling him; barely taking notice of Lucy nodding.

"Then follow us!" Erza said with a smile.

**I do hope you enjoyed this chapter. For now I'm going to try to keep the chapters around 3,000 - 4,000 words at least. This does mean however it will take longer for me to work but I feel it works better this way. Anyways, if you guys enjoyed this, read the prequel if you haven't yet, ask me any questions you may have, give me suggestions for ideas, leave a review if you wish. See you all later.**


	2. Welcome To Fairy Tail!

**Hello again good people. About a month has passed since the last update. I have my reasons. Anyways, I wrote a good portion of this story between school and while I was under a decent deal of stress so my writing quality may have suffered in various spots (in my humble opinion that is). As you may notice, I do take more time to update but I try to make sure the chapters in turn, are longer (I aim for each chapter to be at least 3,000 words). Anyways enjoy!**

Talking – "Quotations"

Thoughts –_ 'Italics with contractions'_

Important words, people, etc. – **Bold**

Spells – **Underlined and bold**

_**The Life of a Dragon and Knight**_

_**Chapter 2: Welcome to Fairy Tail**_

About a full day was what it took for the trio to arrive to their destination. Magnolia. The location of the famous…or infamous, Fairy Tail guild. The trio, although, a certain red-head was being carried on a rose haired man's back, contently asleep, with her arms and legs wrapped securely around his neck and waist to keep from falling off.

"It's almost hard to believe that the famous Titania looks so…innocent…and content, sleeping on your back." The blonde female stated in disbelief. Halfway through the trek to Magnolia the red-head asked if the dragon slayer would mind her sleeping on his back as he carried her, to which the dragon slayer didn't mind and she dozed right off. She imagined a hardened warrior who never let her guard down. Not a kindhearted woman who could drop her guard around those she cared for.

"That's what we thought when she came back from a training trip that lasted a year. She was actually what many expected. Shut in, socially awkward, stern, and righteous and so on. She keeps a lot of these traits intact but fairly less noticeable, mostly around me." Natsu explained.

"Why did she leave?" Lucy inquired.

"She has her reasons. Ask her if you want to know." Natsu replied plainly before he turned to the sleeping red-head clinging to his neck. "Oi! Erza! We're almost in town." Natsu shook his body somewhat to ease the sleeping woman awake only for her to mumble.

"5 more minutes Natshu, you're too comfy." Erza mumbled before nuzzling her head into Natsu's neck; earning an amused look from both the dragon slayer and the blonde celestial mage. Natsu realized he'd have to be…mean to awake the sleeping scarlet haired woman. He turned to the blonde teenager and stated in an overly loud voice, "What's that you say Lucy? A Date? Sure I-" Natsu was cut off when he felt the cold steel of a sword pressed against his throat; courtesy of a now fully away Erza Scarlet.

"You're not leaving me for another woman so easily Natsu." Erza said with a very dark smirk apparent on her face, hoping to scare Natsu. To her surprise the rose haired teen just smirked.

"I wasn't being serious, but it woke you up." Natsu stated with his smirk just widening looking at Erza's shocked expression before allowing the woman to get off his back.

"Damn you Natsu!" Erza raged, hitting Natsu over the head before crossing her arms under her chest with a comical pouting expression clearly shown on her face. "I was sleeping so comfortably too." She lamented.

"Hahaha! Don't be like that. I'll be sure to get you some of Mira's strawberry cake when we get to the guild." Natsu laughed sheepishly as he rubbed his head with one of his hands.

'_Well, they certainly must be together considering how they act around each other.'_ Lucy thought as she watched the series of events unfold in front of her between the Salamander and Titania.

"Anyways, let's head to the guild." The red-head stated suddenly snapping out of her comical lamenting. "I believe you are very eager to join the guild." She finished looking to Lucy with a small smile.

"Very!" the Celestial mage replied with a wide smile plastered on her face.

"Then let's not wait any longer! I haven't went fishing with Happy in forever!" Natsu roared as he started increasing his pace towards to nearby town.

"You went fishing less than three days ago." Erza deadpanned.

"But three days is basically forever!" Natsu pouted, earning a small giggle from the women at his antics; despite Lucy questioning who this 'Happy' was. "It's not funny!" Natsu further pouted.

"Alright. Alright. You can go fishing, but don't rush ahead. Stay with us." Erza finished with a smile as the trio finished the trip to the guild.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_**A Little Bit Later, At The Guild**_

To say the least. Gray was bored. All he did at the guild, without Natsu, and not completing missions, was just sit in idle boredom at the bar and someone strike up a chat with the white haired bartender.

"You look bored, Gray." Mira stated, taking note of Gray's bored expression.

"Never thought I'd miss having Natsu around as often as he used to be. Kind of miss fighting with him." Gray spoke without putting much thought into what he just said.

"Oh! Did you just admit that you miss Natsu, Gray? How very kind of you." Cana teased, making Gray realize what he said.

"What?! No! Who would miss that dumbass!?" Gray asked in sheer shock in what he just said.

"Apparently you do." Mira smirked.

"Oi! No I do-" Gray was unable to finish when the doors burst open revealing a teenage male wearing a green jacket, blue shades, with short orange spiky hair.

"Guys! We have a problem!" The orange haired man basically yelled.

"What problem are you talking about Loke?" Gray asked rather irritated.

"Yeah. What could be so bad?" Cana asked lazily about to take another gulp of alcohol from a barrel next to her.

"Erza's back!" Loke shouted in fear.

Silence issued throughout the guild, as if this return was no big deal. The silence continued for a moment longer before Gray promptly broke it. "…And? I fail to see the problem here." Gray stated in a bored tone.

"B-b-but!" Loke started before he was cut off.

"You only see it as a problem because you tried hitting on her again recently; which she responded to beating you within an inch of your life." Cana laughed, causing the nearby members to laugh at their guild mate's misfortune at flirting with the Titania.

Mira simply smirked at this, accurately assuming why Erza reacted violently to Loke's advances.

"I assume since Erza's almost here, I can kick that Flame-Brain's ass." Gray smirked

"YOU'RE ON GRAY!" A loud voice roared as the door burst open to reveal Natsu with Erza and Lucy behind him. "This time I can prove I'm stronger than you!" Natsu roared as he started his charge towards Gray but failed as Erza reached out and grabbed the collar of his vest.

"Not now Natsu. We have to see to it that Lucy can get into the guild." The scarlet haired woman stated.

While Erza gave a light scolding to Natsu and Gray, Lucy was in her own little world at being in the very guild she dreamt of joining. "Wow, so this is Fairy Tail." She said to herself in awe.

"So how do you like our little family?" A sweet voice came to her right, causing the blonde to turn to the source. The source being a very beautiful white haired woman.

"It's everything I imagined." Lucy answered happily, now ignoring a fight that broke out between Natsu, who broke away from Erza's scolding, and Wakaba over something about false information and some Igneel person.

"That's good! You'll get along just fine here then. Everyone here is family and we do everything we can for each other." The white haired beauty explained.

"Mira! I need more alcohol!" A middle age man with blue hair yelled.

Mira simply smiled. "Coming right up!"

Lucy's eyes went wide. "You're THE Mira?! As in Mirajane Strauss from the front of the Sorcerer Magazine?!"

Mira simply tilted her head to side, eyes closed, and smiled. "Yup! Now let's get you a guild stamp."

Lucy was nearly taken aback by this. _'Is it just as simple as that? Just getting a guild stamp?'_ She thought, quite appalled, but simply replied. "Right!"

As the two were walking to the bar the fight that started between Natsu and Wakaba soon escalated to where a good portion of the guild was joined in. "Incoming!" a random guild member shouted, causing Mira and Lucy to stop dead in their tracks as Wakaba flew right in front of them and crashed headfirst into the wall.

"Looks like they're having fun." Mira stated

"Is it always like this?" Lucy asked, quite shocked that the famous Fairy Tail was this carefree and…loud.

"Yup! This is basically how everyone bonds." Mira explained.

"Right." Lucy said, as she now looked back to see Erza dragging Natsu away from the fight with him kicking and shouting, clearly trying to join back in on the 'fun'. "So tell me, are Natsu and Erza a couple?" Lucy asked

Mira's smile dropped for a second as she gave some thought on the matter. "So you thought that too huh? I'd say just from how they act around each other and how they are almost inseparable, yes they are indeed a couple, but they have yet to say anything to anyone else about it. Then again they are not trying to hide it." Mira noted.

"I see." Lucy said without thinking, looking over to the duo now sitting with Natsu comically pouting with Erza laughing at his inability to rejoin the brawl.

Mira set a mug in front of Macao before turning back to Lucy. "So what color and where would you like your guild mark?" Mira asked, prepared to grab the appropriate colored stamp.

"Um. Pink. On the back of my right hand." Lucy said, excited as she held out her right hand so Mira could stamp it. Upon getting the Fairy Tail stamp on her hand, Lucy excitedly went over to Natsu and Erza to show them her new mark. "Guys! I got my mark!" She proudly showed her hand to the (secret?) couple.

"Congratulations Lucy!" Natsu cheered with a toothy smile.

"I'm sure you'll be right at home here at the guild." Erza said with a smile. "Oh, speaking of which. Lucy, where are you going to be staying? I can probably get you a place to live at Fairy Hill." Erza offered.

"Oh! No thanks. I'd much prefer to get an apartment elsewhere. Though I'm not quite sure where to start looking." Lucy pondered.

"I can help you with that." Mira said as she walked over from the bar. "I can even let you stay with me for the day and we'll go looking tomorrow." She then offered.

"Thank you!" Lucy exclaimed. She then turned to Erza and was about to say something before Erza said something first.

"When you get done looking for an apartment, you might want to go on some jobs." Erza stated. "Me and Natsu can do the first couple jobs with you so you can get a feel for working on teams and how the whole contract thing works. That way, you can maybe come up with your own teams. That is, if you want." Erza offered.

"I'll think about it." Lucy said with a smile before she soon left the guild with Mira. Not too long after that Natsu and Erza left as well.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_**Later At Erza's Apartment at Fairy Hills**_

"I still find it ironic that the head girl of Fairy Hills, the enforcer of the rules. and the definition of 'innocence' invites a guy into her room almost every night at a place where men are not allowed." A rose haired mage stated with a smirk as he and a scarlet haired woman walked into the r00m on top floor of the building.

"I know. Quite fun, don't you think." The scarlet haired woman responded with a devious smirk as she pushed the rose haired mage on the bed, followed by the woman jumping on top of him.

"Imagine the guilds reaction when they learn you sneak me into your room." Natsu smirked.

"Speaking of sneaking people into a room. We should move in together." Erza suggested as she looked down at Natsu's look of confusion. "What? You don't want to?" She then asked with a slight look of hurt.

"No. It's not that I don't like the idea of it. In fact, I really want to." Natsu answered truthfully. "It's just that, I don't' think you can keep sneaking me up here every time and my place isn't exactly big enough."

Erza simply giggled at this. "Silly. I don't mean move into one of our own places. I mean we should get a new place, if not straight up build one." She explained.

"Where would we get the money?" Natsu stated, clearly not thinking about where to get the money.

Erza simply deadpanned at her dragon slayer's stupidity. _'Smarts are definitely not his strong suit.'_ She thought before she explained. "Natsu, who do you think you're talking to?" She asked.

"Um. The most beautiful woman in the world?" The fire mage answered as if it's obvious.

"Cute. But No. I'm an S-Class mage Natsu. Do you know what means?" Erza questioned while smirking at Natsu's attempts to flatter her.

"Kickass missions?" He question.

"No." Erza said as she lightly flicked his head. "Well. Actually yes. The missions can be quite fun, but I mean the pay. The pay for some of these mission alone are enough for us to build a sizable home for us and our future family."

"Family…" Natsu trailed off as he looked rather spaced out.

"Something wrong Natsu?" Erza said with worry written on her face.

"I've always wanted a family. I mean, the guild is family but I mean a _real_ family, one by blood I guess. I don't know how to explain it." Natsu answered somewhat sadly.

"Tell you what," Erza started with a soft smile as she moved her head down to capture the dragon slayer's lips in a short kiss before pulling back, "once we build our future home. I'll see to it that we can start a family together. Is that fine?"

"It's better than fine!" Natsu exclaimed before wrapping his arms around Erza's waist before lifting his head up to the red-head's face to re-engage in their kiss. Soon enough, both side's desires were rising, before Erza took notice of the look in Natsu's eyes and pulled back.

"It would appear the look in your eyes have different plans on the family part." Erza said with a lustful smirk. "Nothing wrong with starting a family sooner." She finished as she hurriedly resumed the heated make out session with the dragon slayer as the clothes quickly came off. The result was a night of passion for the couple.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_**The Following Morning**_

"So, how much money do you think we'll need for this house?" Natsu asked as he swung his vest on and started walking to the window.

"Well. I'd like plenty of space, for both our future family and any guest we may have." Erza explained. "Also, I would like to have it on the outskirts of town, near the woods, similar to your home." Natsu simply look back at Erza and shrugged at this. He didn't much care where the new home was, but he did like it being a bit more isolated. "So in total. I think it would be safe to say we'll need about two million jewels." Erza finished.

"It would appear we have our work cut out for us." Natsu commented with an unusual sage like tone.

"That it is. However, we should look to make sure Lucy gets settled in first before we start trying to devote our time to getting more funds." Erza noted. With this, the pair prepared to leave, Erza saw Natsu open the window, preparing to jump out before she had to ask once again. "You're taking the 'express' elevator again?" Erza said with false curiosity.

Natsu simply looked back at Erza with a smirk. "Well I don't want to ruin your 'perfect' image quite yet." He replied before turning his back and jumped out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_**At the Guild**_

"Mira, where did my father go?" a young dark haired boy asked the white haired bartender with a look of worry on his face.

"Oh! Romeo, how are you?" Mira asked in a upbeat voice, hopefully trying to lighten the young boy's sullen mood.

"I'm ok. Just wondering about my father." The young boy responded.

"I believe he told you he was going on a mission to Mt Hakobe. Don't you remember?" Mira asked, the smile finally dropping from her face as she looked at boy.

"I know, but he should be back by now right?" The boy asked with worry.

"That place is quite the distance away and the mission itself was an extermination. Give him time Romeo. We can't do anything right now for him. Just have faith." Mira responded with a soft smile full of compassion on her face.

Romeo seemed to finally accept this, his mood finally lifted a bit. "Right! No one can beat my father!" With that, the boy ran out of the guild just as Natsu and Erza were coming in.

"Good morning Erza! Natsu!" The white haired beauty greeted.

"Hello Mira." Erza greeted with a small smile. "It would seem Romeo is in a good mood today.

"Well, I had to cheer him up a bit, you could say. Worried about his father being gone for two days." Mira quickly explained.

"Macao will be alright! He's a strong mage!" Natsu cheered, to no one in particular, throwing his fist in the air.

Erza stifled a giggle at the rose haired mage's antics before turning to the bartender. "Oh, Mira, where is Lucy? I'd figure she'd be with you since you offered to find her a place to stay." The scarlet haired woman asked.

"Oh. She was here about an hour ago, but Levy and the rest of Team Shadow Gear showed up and the two of them hit it off pretty well. So much in fact, that Lucy went on a mission with them." Mira explained.

Erza and Natsu were at first hurt at this, but quickly recovered as they knew celestial mage was quickly making friends. "Well, I was hoping to see how she performs on mission, but it's great she's already making friends." Erza said.

"Yeah, but this also works out for us too." Natsu noted.

Mira was rather puzzled at this. _'Works out for them? What could they have planned?'_ "Oh? You two had something else planned?"

"Well, yes. However we were going to put it off until Lucy got settled in around here. Natsu and I were going to build up some money by going on a couple S-Class missions."

"What do you need money for? Natsu here probably doesn't really need money as he built his own house, and hunts his own food. He only needs money to buy clothes when he needs them, which is not very often. You on the other hand Erza, already have a decent amount of money." Mira stated, apparently knowing quite well of how much money the two of them had and if they needed more or not.

"Yes. That is true, but Natsu and I need more so we can build another house. A rather large one at that." The Titania explained.

"So you two are together!" Mira exclaimed, thankfully not loud enough for some of the other members to make sense of it.

"Uh, yeah? Does this surprise you?" Natsu asked with a deadpanned expression.

"Actually no. I've seen the way Erza looked at you in the past, and knew how she wanted to be with you, but I couldn't confirm it until recently when you didn't deny it just now." Mira explained with a cheerful expression, secretly happy that her longtime former rival finally got together with the man she had her sights on.

"Relationships aside Mira, Natsu and I are taking this mission." Erza interjected, obviously not very comfortable with Mira tell Natsu about Erza's obsession with him, by handing her a contract.

"Oh? This one huh?" Mira stated, suddenly more serious. "Eliminate Scavenger's Hide, Contractor location in Hargeon Port. I see, so you want to take out the guild that took Natsu hostage?" Mira questioned.

"The personal reasons are just a bonus, but the pay is what we're after." Erza explained, slightly grimacing at the events that took place a couple months ago.

"I see, very well! I shall write this down." Mira stated quickly cheerful again. "Be careful and don't have too much **fun** you two."

Erza's face quickly adorned a blush as she quickly turned away and headed to the doors of the guild with Natsu following behind her.

**That concludes this chapter! Word of note, I will most likely not write out many of the main canon fights (Lullaby, Galuna Island, Phantom Lord, etc) as many other stories do this and if any of you are like me, I honestly don't like reading the same thing with very similar endings so I'm going to straight up skip them and only touch on them, or make them brief. In turn I hope to write out my own, if not just to improve my ability to write out a fight scene. Also, Aravind, I do plan to put a touch jealousy around the Edolas arc when/if I get to it. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. As always, if you liked/disliked the chapter/story, leave a review/comment, ask me anything you want, or simply leave a suggestion.**


	3. Getting Money and Retrieving Macao

**Ok, so this chapter is a little shorter than the previous one (which was even shorter than the first one D:) my apologies, the ideas simply weren't flowing towards me that well this time. I know I said I should have more time to work on this story and I actually did. But Dragon Age: Inquisition. The temptation was too great. Anywho, I tried to progress a bit farther into the story with this chapter while adding some things of my own as you will read. I would say I would like to update soon, but with some of the holidays coming up and my working a lot of hours to pay for Christmas shopping, I won't guarantee anything. I'll try to keep the updates to once a month** **hopefully. Anyways, hope you enjoy the chapter!**

Talking – "Quotations"

Thoughts –_ 'Italics with contractions'_

Important words, people, etc. – **Bold**

Spells – **Underlined and bold**

_**The Life of a Dragon and Knight**_

_**Chapter 3: Gathering Money and Retrieving Macao**_

"Ah. I didn't think I'd see you again, Salamander. Though I guess I shouldn't be surprised." A low toned voiced male spoke, sitting down across the table from the Salamander and his red haired companion. The man in question had sharp eyes with an emotionless face, with a dark blue t-shirt and dark gray pants.

It took Natsu a moment to remember who the contact sitting across from him was. Then it hit him. "Ah! You're that Scavenger guild guy who helped me escape!" Natsu said suddenly yelling.

A look of confusion and minor annoyance took the man's normally expressionless face. "I have a name you know."

Natsu's red haired companion simply smacked him across the head, casuing the dragon slayer's head to hit the table in turn. "Natsu, that's not very polite. Please forgive him Gerik. Natsu is not the best with placing names with faces." The red-head apologized.

"No need Titania." Gerik responded by waving his hands in front of him with a small smile. The last couple months clearly did something for his normally stoic behavior. "If it wasn't for him, I'd still be in a dead-end guild."

Natsu's head quickly shot back up, now a more serious look adorning his face. "Speaking of which."

"Ah yes. The mission. Of course. The mission as you've hopefully seen by now is to eliminate the Scavenger's Hide guild."

"That much we did know. Though if you don't mind my asking, what are they doing and why do you want them gone?" The Titania questioned.

"To start with, they are not doing anything different than what they tried to do to Salamander previously. Capture potentially noticeable people and try to ransom them off. What further sickens me is even the tactics used are the same. As to why I want them gone. Personal reasons aside, they hurt too many innocent people, even if they are not actively doing so."

Both the Fairy Tail mages nodded and stood up from the table; Natsu already walking towards the door of the small restaurant they were in. Erza however, had one final question.

"Are they still in the same place?"

Gerik simply closed his eyes and sighed. "Yes. Still in that pathetic excuse for a base. Anything else?"

"That is all." The scarlet haired woman replied before walking out of the restaurant, turning to see Natsu waiting outside. "Let's go Natsu."

Natsu simply smirked. "Finally! Time for some payback!"

* * *

_**At Fairy Tail**_

"We're back Mira!" A short blue haired girl yelled as she pushed open the doors to the guild.

The white haired bartender quickly turned to see Team Shadow Gear plus Fairy Tail's newest member, Lucy walking into the guild. "Levy! Welcome back. How was the mission?"

Lucy's expression turned from a warm smile to a scarred one when she remembered the mission she completed with her temporary team. "Oh. It was….interesting. But it went alright. Sadly due to certain events, we refused the reward."

"I see. How was Lucy's performance?" The bartender asked with piqued curiosity.

"Very good considering she just joined." The short blue haired girl replied happily.

Lucy looked around while the bartender and solid script mage chatted about her performance on the mission and noticed something was off. It seemed too quiet. "Say…Where are Natsu and Erza?" She then cut in.

The conversation between the blunette and the bartender stopped while the latter replied. "Oh, they went on a mission yesterday morning when they learned you left for a mission already."

Lucy's face went to pure shock. "I TOTALLY FORGOT! Oh man! I hope they're not upset!" she lamented as she started to panic.

"Quite the opposite in fact!" Mira chirped. "They were actually holding off doing a mission anyways to help you get settled in, so when they learned you already found a team to help out they simply left minutes after."

"Oh. That's good." Sighed the Celestial mage in relief she didn't upset her friends. "I wonder what kind of mission they are doing right now." She then wondered.

"I bet Erza's taking Natsu on a boring escort mission. That way he doesn't destroy everything." Levy guessed.

"You sure?"

* * *

"**FIRE DRAGONS BRILLIANT FLAME!"** Roared Natsu as he unleashed a gigantic fire ball against a mob of enemies, engulfing all of them, ending with an explosion that toppled a portion of the 'castle'. "Oi! Erza! That makes 73 for me!"

Erza simply finished taking down 14 enemies at once; now clad in her **Heaven's Wheel Armor**. "81 for me. Looks like you will be buying me strawberry cake when we get home." Erza smirked as she turn to see an utmost comical raging Natsu at being beaten by Erza again. Erza's smirk simply widened further before she continued. "What? I'm not going to hold back. There's strawberry cake to fight for!"

Natsu was about to retort before another wall exploded, causing the pair to turn to see the 'guild master' walk in. The man looked intimidating enough, wearing a black cloak with the hood up and a blank black mask with only his bright blue eyes being shown. This however, did not intimidate Natsu; instead, he smirked. "Erza! This guy counts for 20!" Before charging headlong into battle.

* * *

"Hm. I guess you may be right." Lucy mused to herself before realizing that Levy has long since forgone waiting for her reply and was chatting happily with Jet and Droy at a nearby table. Lucy comically hung her head at being so easily forgotten and ignored.

Mira simply smiled at this before she looked to a brunette drinking alcohol out of a barrel. "Cana! Watch the bar for a bit."

"Do I get more free beer?" The drunk brunette slurred.

"No, and if I find any missing drinks. You shall find yourself without alcohol for a month." The white haired beauty said sternly, showing quite a lot of intimidation with her eyes; leaving Lucy very scared. Soon enough though, Cana quickly sobered up and Mira turned to Lucy, motioning her to follow.

"Where are we going?" Lucy asked as she followed Mira out of the guild.

"To find you a suitable place to live of course!" Mira said with a bright smile.

* * *

_**A Couple Days Later in Magnolia**_

"No! I got that last hit in! I beat him!" A male voice rang out towards his female companion.

"Oh? Is the little dragon all mad the knight has beaten him?" A female voice playfully teased.

"No! I just-" He was cut off.

"Natsu!" A child like voice cried out. This caused Natsu and Erza to turn to the source of the voice and saw a crying Romeo running towards him.

"Romeo? What's wrong?" Natsu asked with concern as he knelt down to let the young boy hug him.

"I-It's my dad. He hasn't come back yet. I told Mira and the master about it, but they told me not to worry." The boy cried. Natsu was surprised at this and looked up to Erza, who looked back with concern in her eyes.

"Mira told me about the mission he took. It was an extermination mission to take out Vulcans on Mt. Hakobe. It could be likely something went wrong." Erza explained.

Natsu simply looked back to the boy. "Right. Romeo will you do something for me?" he questioned the boy, causing him to look up with a questioning look. "Stay strong. Erza and I will get your father back." Natsu requested with a warm smile.

The boy finally gained a look of hope and happiness that his idol would so willingly go bring his father home. With a happy nod, the boy went home to anxiously await his father's return. "Before we go, Natsu, we need to tell the guild of this." Erza stated.

"Right. Perhaps we can bring Lucy along." Natsu suggested.

"Not a bad idea. We may need the help in the event should we be overwhelmed." Erza answered. With this the pair continued down the streets of Magnolia; edging ever so closer to the Fairy Tail guild.

After a few moments the two entered the guild to which they were promptly greeted by Mira.

"Welcome back you two!" The white haired bartender greeted happily.

"Thank you Mira." Erza thanked before she continued. "Unfortunately, Natsu and I are leaving right about now. We just wanted to let you know we've finished the mission and we're going to Mt. Hakobe to get Macao." Erza explained.

"So Romeo came to you two to get his father back? He shouldn't be so worried." Mira stated with a solemn expression written on her face.

"He has right to be rather worried. It's been going on a week since he left for his mission. He should have been back in two days. Three tops." Erza explained.

"Also, we were wondering if Lucy wanted to come along." Natsu added in.

"I wouldn't mind tagging along if that's ok." Lucy chirped in.

"Excellent. We leave at once." Erza promptly stated before she turned to leave.

"Wait! I don't even get time to prepare!?" Lucy yelled in surprise "Don't you both need to get ready?"

"We're always ready." Natsu answered with a smirk before he nodded to Erza who simply brought out a bag from her pocket dimension and handed to him. "See?"

Lucy's eyes went wide before mumbling under her breath, "You guys are monsters" before she then continued louder. "At least give me one hour and I shall be ready."

Natsu almost frowned at this, wanting to leave right away, but was unable to object as Erza spoke first. "That is fine. Come meet us in one hour." Erza stated.

* * *

_**Later That Day on the Trail to Mt. Hakobe**_

For the most part, the trio walked in relative silence. Happy once again stayed at Natsu's place, having become rather lazy once Natsu was no longer reliant on him to fly and spent more time with Erza, Natsu was more focused on reaching Macao and kept ahead of the other two, Erza simply had nothing to talk about, and Lucy was thinking of something to say. Finally something came to her.

"Hey Erza? I know it's great to care for other guild members, but Natsu seems to take this really seriously. Does he care greatly for Macao too?" She question with genuine curiosity.

"Well. Amongst Fairy Tail, we are all family and would do anything for one another. This is especially true for Romeo who Natsu feels a certain connection to." Erza explained.

"Really? How so?" Lucy asked.

"Natsu knows what it's like to lose a father to some extent. I'm not sure if its right for me to speak about his past but, Natsu's real family abandoned him when he was just a baby. Igneel, who he refers to as his father is actually his foster father; but even he mysteriously vanished 7 years ago leaving Natsu again without a father. So when Macao didn't come back Natsu sympathized with Romeo." Erza explained.

"Wow. That's so sad. To have such a past. Lucy looked down as she commented in sadness.

Erza simply mumbled quietly "Many in Fairy Tail have had a sad and tragic past."

"You say something Erza?" Lucy asked, thinking she heard the red-head say something.

Surprised, Erza quickly stuttered. "N-no. Nothing. Anyways, don't you think you should dress more warmly?" She quickly recovered with a question.

"Uh. No? Why?" Lucy asked, confused.

"We **are** going to Mt Hakobe." She answered.

"Ok? What of it?" The blonde continued to ask, clearly not understanding what the Titania was implying.

Erza simply remained silent, apparently not wanting to try to explain anymore. '_It's her 'loss' if she wants to go into the mountains dressed like __**that**__'_. She thought before she sped up her walk to catch up to Natsu who was walking a short distance ahead of them.

Lucy simply watched as the red-head caught up with the dragon slayer and started a light hearted chat with the mage. Lucy wasn't much paying attention to their conversation only catching bits of it such as 'money', 'house', 'family', but noticed how Erza was starting to push herself closer to the rose haired mage while said mage smiled warmly. '_Definitely a couple.' _She thought idly. For the next hour or so the trio walked in relative silence with Natsu and Erza idly chatting to each other until the couple heard a small chant followed by a bright light. The two then turned to see a walking grandfather clock with a shivering Lucy inside.

"Uhh. Lucy what are you doing?" Erza asked.

Lucy's mouth moved, but only the clock's voice was heard. "'It's cold'. She says. She then asks 'How are you guys not cold?'" The clock stated plainly.

"I use the fire variant of Dragon Slayer magic. Naturally my body heat is enough. If it's not, I can simply use my magic to increase my body temperature. The Salamander explained before he turned to Erza.

"I am used to the cold. However…." She turned to Natsu, "Since Natsu is basically a walking heater, I can use him to stay warm." She finished wrapping her arms around Natsu with what Lucy would describe as 'very adorable'.

"'You both are weird' she mumbles" The clock spoke in place of Lucy again.

"Oh? I think coming out here where it's very cold in….whatever that is, is quite weird enough Lucy." Erza retorted with a smirk.

"'Shut up' she says." The clock spoke again.

Natsu, while enjoying the moment, never truly forgot why they were out here. "As much as this is fun, we must get a move on. No telling what sort of danger Macao could be in."

"Ah! I can't believe I forgot. Please hit me Natsu." Erza requested as she pushed away from Natsu, bowing her head readying for impact.

Lucy's eyes widened at this, not expecting the Titania of Fairy Tail to be so quick to punish herself for menial things. Natsu however, grinned evilly. "Oh I won't hit you." He stated, causing the red-head to look up in confusion.

"You won't?" The equip mage asked in utter confusion.

"Noo…But you can go the rest of the trip without your 'heater' to warm you up." He finished, his already wide grin growing larger upon looking at the expression of utter terror upon Erza's face at the loss of her 'heater'.

"F-fine. That is punishment enough." Erza hesitantly stated almost comically crying.

Natsu smirked and turned around, satisfied with her reaction. "Good! Now let's get Macao back home!" he yelled, throwing his fist up in the air as he began to walk faster than the rest of his team.

**So, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter, I know some parts I particularly had some fun writing. For what is going to happen. I do plan on writing some more of my own segments before I further progress into the main story. As to where Gray was at the guild? You'll see in the upcoming chapter(s). Anyways, as always, if you liked the chapter, feel free to favorite, follow, leave a review/comment, and if you have questions, feel free to leave them in the reviews or send them to me over PM and I'll answer them either through PM or in the next update**


	4. Starting the Family & The Mission

**Hello everyone! I hope you had a good Christmas and Happy New Year (assuming you celebrate them, I don't celebrate the latter). I completed this chapter in much less time than the previous chapter(s) so hopefully that and the length (roughly 3,300 words) will make up for how short the previous one was. However, the downside to this is that I may have missed a few more grammatical errors than I usually do (sucks not having an extra pair of eyes to read over my work). As for the chapter, this chapter basically follows from rescuing Macao and the start of the Lullaby Arc with a bit of fun in between as well as some Erza's personality. Anyways, I do hope you enjoy it.**

Talking – "Quotations"

Thoughts –_ 'Italics with contractions'_

Important words, people, etc. – **Bold**

Spells – **Underlined and bold**

_**The Life of a Dragon and Knight**_

_**Chapter 4: Starting the Family &amp; The Mission**_

Dodge, block, retaliate, and inflict non-lethal injuries; rinse and repeat. At least, that was the process a trio of mages found themselves repeating when they found out their guild mate was not exactly hurt or ….captured to say. Instead, the Purple Flare mage was taken over by the Vulcan.

"Are you guys sure it's him!?" Lucy question loudly as she divvied out of the way of the Vulcan's lunge towards her, apparently trying to 'claim' her.

"Positive." Natsu grunted as he ignited his arms with fire. "Smells just like him."

"Aside from that, the behavior towards women is another hint." Erza added as she sent a 'dull' sword flying towards the Vulcan. The Vulcan swiftly dodged the sword and jumped over a flaming fist, courtesy of Natsu, and then proceeded the grab the dragon slayer, ending with the Vulcan throwing him through a hole in the cavern they were in and off the mountain.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried, thinking that the fire mage was just thrown to his death by his taken-over guild mate. This however, left her open to another charge from the body snatching Vulcan.

"Don't lose focus Lucy!" Erza commanded as she slammed her body into the Vulcan, now wearing her **Black Wing Armor**. The Vulcan tumbled to a stop and proceed to get up slowly with a visible snarl on its face; obviously upset at yet another unsuccessful attempt at taking the blonde celestial mage for its own.

"He was just thrown off the mountain though." Lucy complained, quite worried for her new friend.

"Trust me. It will take **much **more than that to take Natsu down." Erza replied with a smirk. Right on cue, Natsu appeared at the 'hole' of the cavern, hovering, thanks to his flames providing enough propulsion to keep him up.

"Ok. Enough playing around." Natsu mumbled to himself, now serious. "Come on Macao! Are you really going to let yourself be taken over by **that**?! I thought you were stronger than that!"

This sparked a reaction out of the Vulcan, as it roared to the ceiling. Whether this was Macao trying to regain his body, the Vulcan trying to maintain control, or both getting angry at the 'insult' none of the trio knew, but this did not matter as the creature then charged toward Natsu, intent on making the young mage disappear for good.

Natsu grunted as he arched his still ablaze arms and legs to send him flying towards the charging Vulcan. "**Fire Dragons**" Natsu began to say the name of his attack as his mouth puffed up from inhaling a large amount of air. Natsu waited to the last moment in which the Vulcan wildly flailed its right arm at Natsu hoping to hit, only for the mage to duck under the creatures arm. Now behind the creature Natsu turned around and yelled. "**ROAR!**" A torrent of fire released from his mouth, going straight towards to the Vulcan whom was unable to even react as it was enveloped in fire.

After a short minute, the flames subsided to reveal not a beaten Vulcan, but a badly bruised and slightly burnt blue haired man. "Is he ok?" Lucy asked as she knelt over him.

"He'll be fine. Just unconscious, that's all." Erza answered as she noted his steady breathing. She then turned to Natsu, "You did a good job today Natsu. Especially when you taunted him into attacking wildly."

Natsu simply smirked. "Thanks! However, don't think praising me will get your 'heater' back." He replied with a devious grin upon seeing Erza pout. The two continued to argue playfully until they heard someone groan.

"Ugh, did you have to hit me so hard?" The Flare mage groaned as he woke up to the sight of Natsu and Erza arguing and a blonde teenager looking over him.

The couple stopped their arguing upon this comment, with Natsu turning to the blue haired man. "Nice to you to Macao." He commented with a grin.

"This is embarrassing. Natsu and Erza coming to save me." Macao grumbled as he brought his hand to his face in embarrassment.

"Nonsense." The red haired mage commented. "Vulcans can be tricky creatures to fight."

"I know, but I promised Romeo I would take a lot of them out. I only got 19 before the 20th caught me off guard." The blue haired man lamented.

"19 is still quite impressive. It's not something an average mage could achieve." Erza praised

"I…I see." Macao mumbled. He stared blankly at the cavern ceiling in thought, before he was quickly jerked up suddenly and hauled onto Natsu back. "Ow! Oi! What's the big Idea?!" He comically yelled at the dragon slayer.

"What's it look like? I'm taking you back to Romeo." Natsu jeered with a smirk.

"Can I even get some rest?! I'm quite sore at the moment!" Macao continued to rage.

"Deal with it! You're a man…or am I mistaken?" Natsu laughed as he continued to haul the blue haired mage out the cavern and down the mountain followed by two amused women following.

* * *

To say Romeo was impatient would be understatement but was also a little worried he would be given bad news. To combat this, he tried to keep his mind off recent events by talking to some of the other Fairy Tail members over various things. Later however, he heard a familiar voice call out to him; said voice coming from outside the building.

"Oi! Romeo! Get out here!" the voice called.

"Huh? Is that…?" Romeo began before Mira cut in.

"I believe that is Natsu. It would seem he's back." She answered.

Hope began to fill up in Romeo as he shakily brought himself off the stool from which he sat and slowly walked towards the door. Upon opening it he learned Mira was right. Natsu and his team were back, along with Romeo's Father.

"Look what I found in my travels!" Natsu chirped, with a still 'weak' Macao leaning on his back; the latter responding by jabbing Natsu in the ribs.

Romeo was in awestruck as it took a moment for realization to set in that his father was back. When it did hit him, tears started to well in his eyes and he bolted for his father crying "You're finally back!" as Macao knelt down and let the boy run into his arms, clasping him into a loving embrace.

"Indeed I am…indeed I am." Macao said softly has he continued to hug his son. After a few moments, Macao built up the strength to lift his son onto his shoulders and finally spoke to him. "Let's go home."

Romeo quickly wiped his eyes with his arm, when his arm was removed it revealed a huge smile on his face as he cheered. "Yeah!"

"Oh yeah, when those kids say how lame I am, ask them if their father can take on 19 Vulcans at once. That will shut them up." The Flare Mage smirked, making Romeo beam with pride.

Natsu and Erza watch the scene of the reunion with pride and near envy. Pride that they, along with Lucy were the reason the two were reunited and envy that they were yet to be parents. After bidding the father and son farewell, Erza decided there was more work to be done for the day. "Come Natsu, we have enough funds to get our house built." She stated, grabbing Natsu's collar, as he was about to head into the guild to eat.

"But flaming meat Erza!" Natsu pouted as he struggled to get free, faintly seeing Lucy sitting at the bar ordering food.

"But new family home Natsu." Erza cooed into the dragon slayer's ear, catching his attention. "Flaming meat later. Better yet, I can help you catch some fish."

Natsu quickly perked up at this, Natsu apparently unable to resist the temptation of fish, better when someone offers to help catch them. "Promise?" Natsu asked carefully, thinking it's a trick.

Erza put an 'innocent' smile on her face. "Promise!" She confirmed, giggling as Natsu jumped in the air in joy. Inwardly she was deviously smiling, '_So easily to manipulate. But that innocence of his is irresistible' _she thought. "Now that that's settled, let's get our future home built!" Erza nearly cheered.

* * *

_**About an Hour Later in the Forest, Outskirts of Magnolia**_

"This is the place where we would like it built." A female voice stated to a middle age man wearing a hard-hat.

"Hmmm, ground is good, no leveling is required. Very well. Is there anything else you require before we begin construction?" The man asked politely, knowing very well who the woman he was talking to was.

Erza on this part, simply turned to Natsu, wanting his input on the matter. "Well, if you can, I would like if you could make the outside walls look…natural." Natsu 'explained' with a bit of nervousness, construction or building a home not his forte', given how crude his current residence is.

The worker looked a bit puzzled at this, and turned to Erza for an explanation. Fortunately, Erza knew what Natsu was trying to ask for. "I think he means make the outside walls look like wood, to give it, as he says, a more natural look." She explained.

"Ah! That's what he meant." The worker nodded in understanding. "Is there anything else?"

Erza turned to Natsu again to see if there was anything they forgot before showing the construction site; Natsu however, shrugged his shoulders, unable to think of anything they missed. Erza then turned back to the man and gave her answer "No. I think that will be all."

"Very well." The worker stated. He was about to turn say his goodbyes until he remembered. "Before I go, you are aware of the payment plan? Half upfront and the rest when the project is finished?" He questioned. Erza gave a confirming nod, pulling out nearly a million jewels to which the man took. "Thank you. Last thing. I'll need a means to contact you."

"It would be best to try to contact me at the Fairy Tail Guild. If either of us are not there, leave a letter to be given to us." The Titania explained. The worker gave a nod in acknowledgment and waved his goodbyes.

"It should hopefully be done in a month. Two at the very most." The worker yelled back as he continued walking away.

"So now we wait. I hate waiting." Natsu stated, with minor annoyance but still held a smile on his face.

"Oh? Who said we had to wait to have a family?" Erza cooed seductively as she leaned into Natsu, catching the fire mage by surprise at her sudden advance.

"Uh, you? You said to get the house built first then start the family." Natsu said, rather flustered.

Erza simply smirked seductively, seemingly expecting this answer. "Indeed I did. But I've come to a conclusion. I hate waiting as well. Besides, it will take at least 9 months before our first child will be born. Long after our future home will be done."

Natsu smirked, suddenly not resisting the red head's advances. "You make it seem like you're already pregnant."

Erza gave a giggle at this. "No. Not yet. That however, won't stop us from trying again…and again….and again until I am." She purred seductively into Natsu's ear. The two of them now forgetting where they are.

"You really have this all planned out." Natsu teased.

"Of course!" Erza chirped, all lust suddenly gone from her. "It **is** one of my dreams you know. Now come!" Erza quickly jerked away from Natsu while hanging on his arm, nearly making the dragon slayer topple over. "We have children to make!" She cheered with utmost determination.

"Where could we possibly do that?" Natsu asked in wonder as he jerked his hand away, always amazed by how Erza fails to think some of her actions through while she criticizes him for the same thing. "Happy is at home, while Fairy Hills isn't exactly a good place for privacy."

"That will be their problem! No one gets in the way of family!" Erza turned the rest of the forest as she yelled, almost challenging the world to prevent her from starting a family.

"It will be your problem when you're kicked out of Fairy Hills." Natsu joked, unaware of the full extent of Erza's willing to go to fulfill her goals.

"Pft. Who needs a bed? We'll just do it in the street or somewhere outsi – "She stopped, before a devious smirk once again appeared on her face. She then turned to Natsu again, who started to sweat at what she just thought of. "Natsu! Strip! We're doing it here!" She commanded. 'No' apparently not being an acceptable answer in this scenario.

To say Natsu was shocked by what Erza was suggesting would be an understatement. '_Apparently I get no say in _this' he thought. He almost missed the by-the-rules S-Class Mage from a year ago. Never suggesting to do something so 'indecent' unless absolutely required. That's not to say he didn't enjoy certain 'aspects' of Erza's current behavior. "W-what? No! I'd rather it be in a bed!" Natsu rejected the suggestion, not taking into consideration of Erza's possible reaction. "Besides, you promised to help me catch fish since you would not let me eat earlier!" Natsu pouted as he finished, now remembering how 'cruel' Erza was at dragging him away before a meal.

Bound by a promise, Erza could not fight back. She simply hung her head for a brief moment before realizing there was always later. "Fine. Let's go catch fish." She finally said with a smile.

* * *

_**The Next Morning**_

"So Lucy. Have you found yourself a place to live yet?" Erza asked Lucy with utmost curiosity; Natsu and Mira sitting around, listening in the conversation.

"Yes actually! Mira helped me find a place." Lucy chirped happily as she, as well as Natsu and Erza turned to Mira.

"It was fairly cheap too I think. Only 30,000 jewels a month if I remember correctly." Mira explained, not noticing the slight 'deadpanned' look Lucy gave at the mention of how much money she'd have to make. Apparently 30,000 was not 'cheap' in her mind.

Erza took notice of the look and added. "Don't worry Lucy. 30,000 jewels is nothing should you accompany me and Natsu on an S-Class. The reward is well worth it; besides, worst comes to worse we can always help you on a mission and allow you to have the pay.

"Thanks Erza!" Lucy thanked, with Erza nodding with a smile. Lucy then started talking to Natsu about what kind of missions they could do first while Mira leaned over to Erza.

"So. Have you got a house for yourselves?" Mira asked.

Erza caught on quickly to what Mira was implying and answered. "Yes. Natsu and I have a house in construction right now. The person we contracted said it would be about a month to build."

"That's great! Good for you two!" The white haired bartender stated happy for the couple.

"It would appear Gray is back." A young man with a green jacket and orange hair said, noticing a drop in the temperature causing Mira and Erza to stop their conversation.

"Gray? Who is Gray?" Lucy asked rather puzzled.

"Gray is one of our top mages, a definite S-Class Candidate alongside Natsu here." Erza explained. "As well as a childhood friend of ours."

During that moment, Lucy had a short imaginative thought of who Gray was: Imagining a dashing young man, with a sharp tongue that would make an innocent girl like herself faint; a very strong look in his eyes that would make any woman lucky enough to look into them lose themselves in desire. These thoughts continued even as the young man opened the doors to the guild.

"I'm back." The mage voiced out as he walked in. Truth be told, to Lucy, the man did not look bad at all. To any woman, he looked very handsome, his raven colored spiky hair completed with a very muscular chest would be a nice catch. There was one problem however.

"Gray. Your clothes." A random member voiced out, causing the mage to look down and realize what had happened. Gray was wearing only his boxers.

"God dammit." He sighed to himself as he brought his hand to clasp his face. "I didn't just walk through town like that…"

"Uhm, what's his 'problem' there?" Lucy asked Natsu.

Natsu didn't answer, for someone answered before he could comprehend the question. "Subconscious stripping habit." Erza stated with her hand on her face at her friends habits.

"_So much for finding the perfect boyfriend here._" Lucy thought, mentally crossing off another member of the guild she would like to date, now only a few remaining.

"So Gray, how was your mission?" Mira asked in her (near constant) happy voice.

"Ah," Gray sighed, now disregarding his lack of clothes, "it went fine. Though I would like to talk to the Master about something I learned."

Mira frowned somewhat, not liking to give bad news. "I'm afraid the Master had some meetings to attend to."

"I see." Gray noted, before he turned his stare to Natsu and Erza. "Erza, would you care to help with something? I get the feeling something bad might happen."

To Lucy, this seemed a reasonable to request; to ask a comrade for help. To the rest of the guild, however, this was the equivalent of the world ending. Gray never asked for help unless he absolutely had to. Erza, to Gray's surprise, quickly responded. "Sure. I'll help."

"Oi! Ice-Queen! What about me?!" Natsu shouted, suddenly upset that he wasn't asked for help.

"What about you Flame-Brain!?" Gray shouted back, losing his calm demeanor.

"I'm just as strong as you guys! I should be able to help as well!" Natsu answered, trying to get in on the possible action.

"Ha! You're a flea compared to me!" Gray insulted.

"ENOUGH!" Erza quickly yelled. Silencing the pair as they, as well as the rest of the guild, shrunk in fear at the wrath of the Titania. "Now Gray, I think Natsu here is more than elligable to come. If what you think might happen is bad, Natsu should be there to help us." She explained, suddenly all calm.

"F-fine! As long as Flame-Brain doesn't get in my way!" Gray nearly pouted as he crossed his arms over his chest and he turned his head away.

"Good! Would you like to come along as well Lucy?" Erza asked, which caused Gray to turn his head, his eyebrow raised in confusion.

"Oh? You're a new member?" He asked, Lucy giving him a nod in confirmation. "Nice to meet ya. I'm Gray Fullbuster, and you are…?"

"I'm Lucy." She answered. "And yes, I'll go as well."

"I see. When can you guys get ready?" Gray asked turning his attention to dragon slayer and requip mage.

"All done!" Natsu smirked, holding a bag that contained food and water which was taken from Erza's pocket dimension.

Gray nodded and then turned to Lucy. "And you?" he asked expectantly.

"Oh! I don't need to pack anything. So I can leave whenever." Lucy answered, a bit nervous.

"Then we shall leave now for the train station. The sooner we get **there,** the better." Gray stated as he turned to walk out the door, suddenly clad in black pants and boots.

"Come on Lucy! It will be fun." Natsu said with a happy grin as he pulled on her arm to get her to start following him and Erza to the train station.

"You do realize, we are going to the **train station** right?" Erza smirked as she looked back at Natsu. It took a second to realize for the fire mage to realize what was wrong with this. Then as he realized, he turned green.

"I suddenly don't want to go now…" Natsu groaned, but was unable to back out as Erza now started dragging him out of the guild followed by Lucy.

Mira watching this play out, started pondering to herself. '_It would seem Fairy Tail's strong team has just been formed!'_ she thought in awe.

**That is the end of this chapter! I do hope you enjoy it, and I apologize if there is errors but I lack a person to read over my work to find errors and inconsistencies. Anyways, the next chapter I plan to do PART of the mission, I don't want to write the whole mission out as I lack ideas to make it different from other stories and the canon. So I apologize in advance for those who may have wanted to see my full take on the Lullaby mission. Anyways, as always, if you liked the chapter and story so far, shoot a comment/review, give it a favorite or follow it. If you have any question/suggestions pertaining to the story or anything in general, feel free to shoot me a message. I shall see you all later.**


	5. Bright Days & Many More To Come

**Alright! The chapter is a bit early this time. Yay! However, I would like to say sorry in advance as I have made a plot decision that may, or may not, upset you, if it doesn't then no harm done. Part way into the chapter I have a small time skip which skips a couple arcs. My reasoning behind this is that I came up with no real decent ideas of how to play out the arcs that are different from the canon and other stories. Besides, the story, while it follows Natsu and Erza into the story line, mostly revolves around them. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

Talking – "Quotations"

Thoughts –_ 'Italics with contractions'_

Important words, people, etc. – **Bold**

Spells – **Underlined and bold**

_**The Life of a Dragon and Knight**_

_**Chapter 5: Bright Days &amp; Many More to Come**_

"**That's it! I'll devour all your souls myself!" ** An utterly angry, yet clearly maniacal voice rang out from the flute that was currently being gripped in Gray's hand; a bright light emitting the skull's three eye sockets, which, added onto the flute's rapid transformation, caused Gray to drop the flute and have the rest of his team, as well as the other guild masters, retreat from the growing monstrosity.

"This…this is Lullaby's true form?!" A scarlet haired woman asked in terror as she looked up to the monstrous size of one of the demons from the Book of Zeref. Despite the severity of the situation, the rose haired man besides her only widened his smirk, looking forward to another fight, despite his rather banged up appearance from fighting Erigor previously.

The demon let out a maniacal laugh as it rambled on about devouring the souls of everyone; completely ignoring the fire mage along with Gray and Erza preparing to charge the monster, preparing to destroy the monster.

Lucy looked in awe at the monster before she noticed that the three mages next to her were gone as they were engaging the demonic flute. "T-They aren't really planning to take that monster on right?!" she asked to no one in particular.

"Actually, I think those three are quite capable of taking it down." A low voice sounded, causing Lucy to look down to her left to see the source of the voice; the voice belonging to a short old man, with balding white hair with a thick mustache wearing a white coat. The old man looked up and with a smile greeted the blonde. "I'm Makarov Dreyar, guild master of Fairy Tail. Always a pleasure to meet a young and attractive new member such as yourself." As he stood up on the tips of his feet, with his hands raised trying to shake her hand; clearly ignoring the large scale battle taking place in front of them.

Lucy simply sweat dropped at this, noting the way he casually greeted himself despite the fact his guild mates are going to head-to-head with one of Zeref's demons meaning he had both a great deal of faith in the three and had a great deal of power himself. "H-h-hi. I'm Lucy." Lucy greeted nervously as she bent down to shake the man's hand; a shout from a certain rose haired mage turning their attention back to the fight at hand.

A torrent of fire of fire went through the demon as it was unable to dodge both a torrent of fire and a barrage of ice lances, creating one of many holes it now had along its body. This did not serve to bring the demonic flute down, but only added to its frustration at its inability to take down the mages instead. "**That's it! I've grown tired of this! Prepare to lose your souls at the sound of my beautiful music!" **the demon roared angrily, as it gathered its energy.

"_Shit! Can't get away in time"_ Gray thought as he disengaged the monster, looking to see both Erza and Natsu still airborne and trying to stop the monster. In the nearby vicinity of the guild masters, some covered their ears in hopes that the flute's death magic would not reach them, while others were certain that nothing would happen.

The flute let out its 'music', but was rewarded with a soft wind blowing through its body. The demon looked around to see everyone was still standing (or flying), which created an awkward silence for the demon. "**What happened to my beautiful music!? What have you insects done to me!?" **The demonic flute roared once the silence passed; not noticing Natsu gaining altitude behind it.

"Ah! The demon couldn't play the magic because of the holes that were made in its body." Lucy exclaimed as she turned to see the other masters looking at her with a deadpanned expression, as if it was obvious why Lullaby could not use its magic.

Natsu soon found himself both above and behind Lullaby as he was charging up his next (and hopefully last) attack. He looked over to Erza, who looked back at the moment and noticed the gaze he gave her; which, from experience, meant '**move'**.

"**Fine! I don't need my music! I can take you down without it!**" Lullaby manically laughed, almost forsaking all it's previous anger, as it started its walk to the retreating Erza and Gray who were regrouping with the guild masters.

"Then bring it on!" Natsu roared at the demon, causing it look back, "Because I'M ALL FIRED UP!" the flames in his outstretch hands continued to grow, only to be nearly as big as his body as he clapped his hands together to fire off the attack. "**Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame**!" A large fire ball rocketed towards the demonic flute, detonating on contact; creating a massive explosion that enveloped both the demon and the building that served for the guild master's meeting place.

As the explosion subsided, Natsu found himself falling to the ground, lacking any form of energy to keep himself afloat with his magic, only to be caught by Erza. After which, she wrapped his arm around her neck as she helped him walk to their friends and other guild masters.

Gray looked on as he saw Erza support Natsu on their way over to his location. That is, until he saw something fall down from the sky not far from his position. He walked over to see that it was the Lullaby flute that reverted back to its flute form, albeit with a crack now going down the head. He picked up the demonic flute and walked back to the guild masters; intent on handing the flute over to them as they would better know what should be done with the demonic instrument.

"Very great job my boy!" Makarov cheered as Erza set the rose haired dragon slayer on the ground to catch his breath. "You did me proud! All three of you."

'Thank you master." Erza thanked, as she bowed slightly.

Makarov upon turning his attention solely to Erza, motioned for her to come closer; Erza complied as she had nothing to fear from the guild master. "I hope your new house is coming along well? You're going to need it with the family you plan to start with Natsu there." Makarov teased, all well knowing the relationship between couple.

Erza quickly went red in the face, quickly matching her scarlet hair as she jumped back in surprise. "W-w-what!? How? Who told you?" Erza asked both startled and embarrassed.

Makarov simply smirked. "Aside from the fact I can tell when one of my own children seek to start a family with another? Mira. She sent a letter in advance to inform me of your arrival, along with knowledge of your 'plans'."

Erza's face was still red when she mumbled. "I didn't expect anyone to find out yet."

Makarov chuckled softly at this, he found Erza's embarrassment at revealing her love life quite amusing, especially when it involved the dragon slayer. "It's quite alright my child. I'm not upset; quite the opposite, I'm rooting for ya!"

The red in Erza's face faded slightly as she replied, "Thank you master", before she started to return to Natsu's side to begin tending to any wounds he had.

"Be sure to make me lots of grandchildren!" Makarov teased, earning another embarrassed look from the Titania.

"You have some strong members there Makarov." A middle age looking man with shoulder length light brown hair praised with a smile.

"Don't I?" Makarov smirked, almost cockily.

"But." His smile dropped, "You over did it!" Causing a shock look to appear on Makarov's face as he turned to see the 'results' of Natsu's attack. What he saw was…nothing. Nothing that remained of the meeting hall, except a very large crater. Seeing this, he sheepishly laughed at the (now rather annoyed and) approaching guild masters before he turned and ran towards Erza and her team.

"Time to go!" the old man shouted as he ran past the other Fairy Tail members, who in turn, turned to look at the mob running after him. A mob that suddenly (and oddly enough) had a couple pitchforks and torches in the cluster of people; causing the mages to quickly follow their guild master to avoid being possibly lynched for their actions.

* * *

_**About a Month and a Half Later**_

The guildhall, or what was serving as the guild hall was quite…subtle per say, meaning that no brawls were taking place, no Gray stripping, and no Natsu trying to pick a fight with everyone. Oddly enough, Gray and Natsu were for once, having a 'civil' conversation on which S-Class mage the two of them could possibly beat should they ever (somehow) work together. The result, was made clear when they both sheepishly leered to a certain red-head who felt a small chill go down her back, almost knowing what the two were plotting. However, this quickly escaped her mind for it now went elsewhere: her new home. Well…her new home to be, as it was not quite finished; last she checked that is.

She had previously went to check on the progress and the man contracted for the job had the basic walls and framework all put up. All that was left was to model the interior to fit the rooms, paint, and furnish the house; at least, at the time she checked, as she should be hearing the news of completion any time now. For now she was simply enjoying the peace and quiet at the guild while it would last.

"Hey Erza?" A light female voice came from her side.

'_There goes the peace and quiet.'_ Erza sullenly thought, before she turned to see Lucy. "Yes? What is it Lucy?"

"Well, I was wondering, my rent is coming up soon and I need a quick way to get some money, but there are no high paying jobs at my level. I was wondering if we could go on an S-Class mission." The celestial mage answered.

"Oh? Didn't we do a mission about a week ago that paid relatively well?" Erza inquired, quite sure their previous mission should have paid for her rent, if not put a dent in it. It made no difference to her, as she had money from taking a few side mission with only herself and Natsu.

"I-I had to buy clothes and knowing Natsu, everything gets destroyed!" Lucy complained, slightly.

Erza slightly winced at this. True, Natsu was destructive, but compared to how he was in the past, he has held himself in check. "Yes, because using Aquarius in the clients home, which was over runned by bandits, causing it to no longer be of livable conditions sounds like Natsu." Erza sarcastically retorted, before a smirk came to her face. "You're just as destructive as just about everyone in the guild."

Lucy's face was rather flustered at this. "N-no I'm not! Can we go on the mission or not?!"

Erza's smirk dropped to a more serious look. "As much as I want to? No. Not that I don't think I could handle it, so much that you don't have the experience to take on such a mission. You may be a part of a team Lucy, but we won't always be around to help you get money for your apartment." Erza took the brief moment to study Lucy's expression. Sad, but then…contemplating. As if she was plotting something.

"Alright then, I'll try to find another mission." Lucy gave in, after not coming up with how to go on a high paying mission, got up and returned to talking to Levy farther into the guild while Erza returned to eating her cake, contemplating over what happened in the past month.

'_Gray and Lucy stealing an S-Class mission, the war with Phantom Lord, Gajeel joining the guild, and the near destruction of the guild.' _Erza summarized to herself, frowning ever so slightly as she shifted her view to see the Iron Dragon Slayer chewing on….Utensils? Erza just shook her head, deciding not to do anything about it, preferring to just eat her cake.

"I have a letter for a Ms. Erza Scarlet!" A voice rang out, just outside the guild doors, causing a couple members, Erza included, to look towards the entrance.

"You may enter!" Mira said in a sing song voice, as she walked to the back to work on someone's order of food.

The doors opened to reveal a male of average height, with a fairly average appearance overall; the exception being the lack distinct scar of his left eye. The person looked around nervously, obviously uncomfortable about being around the most powerful guild in Fiore. "Uhm, is Erza Scarlet present?"

"That would be me." Erza answered as she slightly raised her hand to let the…messenger know her location. She took a quick another bite of her cake as the man made his way to her before she asked. "Who's it from?"

"I'm not quite sure, I simply ran into the person as I was walking down near the market. It looked as if he was building something as he was quite dirty. He handed me this, told me to that I could find you here and to say that 'it's done'." The man explained, as he handed the short 'letter' to the Titania. Completing his job, the man simply turned and bid farewell before quickly leaving the guildhall.

Erza's eyes lit up upon realizing what 'it's done' meant. She immediately turned to Natsu, who was still scheming with Gray on how to take her down. "Natsu!" She nearly roared. Causing Natsu, and oddly, Gray as well, to freeze in fear.

"Y-yes Erza?" Natsu squeaked, terrified he was in trouble.

"Come! There is something of importance that demands our attention!" Erza commanded as she dragged Natsu.

Watching Erza drag Natsu out of the guild, Gray smirked slightly before turning to the other guild members, "Bets on how bad Erza beats the shit out of Flame-Brain?"

* * *

_**Outskirts of Magnolia**_

A lone man, dressed like every other of his fellow construction workers, whom already left with the job completed, sat somewhat bored on the now completed house's porch steps. To say the least, the man was impressed by the couple's choice of location. The house sat on a hill just on the outskirts of Magnolia on the edge of the forest; with the front of the house poking out of the forestry, to overlook down on Magnolia, and a clear view of the sky, should the desire to watch the setting sun arise.

The overall design of the house was rather simple and rather modest, considering the budget they had. The house was white, and featured two floors, the bottom consisting of a modest sized kitchen area, a rather large 'living' room, and somewhat large sized bathroom, mostly to accommodate a large bathtub that had a shower built in as well. The 2nd floor on the other hand, consisted of 4 bedrooms with each bedroom having its own small bathroom and shower; one of these 4 bedrooms being considerably bigger than the other 3, it being the master bedroom. Obviously, to the construction workers, were to be the couple's primary room.

The man was broken out of his thoughts as he saw two familiar people, one who had red and the other with rose colored hair, walking towards his direction. Standing up, the man started a slow walk to the couple, but not to stray far from the house. Upon coming greeting the couple, he took notice of the look of amazement on both their faces.

"I would like to assume, judging by your expressions, that you both are satisfied?" The man asked with a smile.

"It's….it's perfect!" Erza said in absolute awe, tears welling at her eyes, while Natsu didn't know what to say.

"I'm happy we could build this for you." The worker stated, quite content that he and his men were able to make the perfect house for a young couple.

A short time passed, as the man showed the duo their new home, discussing many of the things he and his men did according to the couple's wants, and also some of the minor changes due to inability to construct. In the end, the three found themselves out back on the porch, overlooking Magnolia as the contractor turned back to the two.

"Here is the rest of your payment, and thank you for everything." Erza thanked, truly, as she handed the rest of the payment to the man who made one of her dreams, that much closer.

The contractor accepted the jewels, almost with hesitancy, for as he looked at the looks of such people who are fully happy and content, he almost felt guilty. In a split decision, the man only took a third of the payment, and handed the rest back to the red head, surprising her. "Here. You both can keep this." The man stated with a warm smile.

Erza stood confused, not understanding why a man, along with his co-workers, whom spent the better part of nearly two months, not accept the rest of their contracted pay. "B-but this is the rest of your payments, won't your business lose profit?"

"Other than owning the business? No, we'll get by. Besides, I can safely say everyone could say the same, the feeling of helping one achieve their dream is more than enough for us. It would feel wrong of me to accept full payment. If not for us, think of it as a gift from us, to start your lives on a good foot." The man explained.

Erza, while confused as she could easily gain the money through an S-Class mission or two, accepted the 'gift' anyways, as she at least understood the meaning of that. "Thank you." She said as a smile grace her lips. Natsu himself had a smirk on his face as he wondered what the future would entail with their house now built.

"No no. Thank you for allowing an old man the feeling of giving." The contractor stated, as he turned to walk away. "I hope the future shines bright for you two and the possible family you will start. Be sure to recommend us to anyone you know!" and with that, the worker walked out of sight.

"So, this is it." Natsu commented in idle wonder, taking note of the look of absolute happiness on Erza's face.

"Yes it is. It will mark one of the best days of our lives and hopefully one of many to come." Erza said, and she took Natsu's hand in her own. "Now! Let's head to **bed**! It has been a long day!" Erza suddenly yelled, filled with enthusiasm, as she tightened her grip on Natsu's hand as she pulled him into the house, nearing their new bedroom.

'_B-but we didn't do anything other than stay at the guild all day!'_ Natsu thought somewhat bewildered, but knew better than to complain, lest he dim one of the brightest days of their lives.

**That marks the end of this chapter. The next chapter will be the Tower of Heaven (not sure if it will span over two chapters or not, I'll think of it as I go), and no I will not write out the WHOLE arc, but bits and pieces (casino, going to tower perhaps, Natsu &amp; Erza fighting Jellal, and my own little 'twist' near the end). I hope you were ok with the decisions I made regarding the story. **

**Also, I would like an opinion, but beware for a spoiler: For those who haven't caught on, Natsu and Erza will have a kid, (not sure how many), but at the moment I'm wavering on having one, which is a girl. I would like opinions on it, and possible names maybe.**

**Anyways, if you enjoyed the chapter, feel free to favorite, leave a review, or message me with your thoughts, comments, suggestions, or question about the story in general. I answer just about all my PMs. I'll see you guys later, and I do hope to have the next chapter uploaded at the lastest by the end of February. Bye!**


	6. A Vacation We All Needed

**Hey guys! I got a chapter done early this time, mostly contributed to more time to work on it and the ideas came more naturally this time, little less brainstorming was required for me to write this. Anyways, This chapter doesn't have A LOT of plot progression so much that it only introduces you to the Tower of Heaven arc. Anyways, hope you enjoy the chapter!**

Natsu is Awesome: **What I'm thinking, is that their first child will be conceived somewhere near the end of the Edolas arc, so She would be pregnant during the Tenrou arc.**

Talking – "Quotations"

Thoughts –_ 'Italics with contractions'_

Important words, people, etc. – **Bold**

Spells – **Underlined and bold**

_**The Life of a Dragon and Knight**_

_**Chapter 6: A Vacation We All Needed**_

"Mira, have you seen Natsu and Erza anywhere?" Lucy asked, as she walked up the bar, having just entered the guild. "Loke, before he left, handed me tickets to a resort, meaning we all can have a small vacation

"Yeah. I haven't seen Erza at Fairy Hills either. I even went into her room to find everything gone." Levy added, having overheard Lucy's question.

Mira merely smiled, though inwardly, she was deviously smiling; knowing perfectly well what this meant. "Oh. I'm not sure, however I think the Master might know." She answered, feigning ignorance.

Makarov, who simply sat on the steps to the 2nd floor, overheard the whole conversation. Inwardly he congratulated the two, piecing two and two together to come to the conclusion that Natsu and Erza's home was finally finished. "Come now Mira. You know, as well as I, where the two of them are." Makarov stated, with a smirk.

"Aw. You're no fun Master!" Mira playfully pouted, before she lead Lucy and Levy, as well as some of the more significant guild members including Gajeel to where Natsu and Erza would be.

* * *

_**At Natsu and Erza's House**_

"Why would Erza and the Flame-Brain be here of all places? I never even knew this place was here!" Gray complained.

"I don't know, but I do recall seeing this place under construction about a month ago." Levy stated.

"It's huge!" Lucy exclaimed, amazed at the size of the house, wondering why she never noticed it.

Mira gave a small smile as she strode up onto the porch, and knocked on the door. All that was left was to wait.

And wait…and wait.

"Are you sure they're here Mira?" Lucy asked, confused.

"They're here, I can smell them." Gajeel answered instead. Earning questioning looks from Lucy and some of the other guild members. "What? You've been around Salamander for this long and have yet to learn that we dragon slayers have naturally enhanced senses, including our smell. By the way, I hear footsteps."

Sure enough, upon hearing light footsteps, a female voice rang out. "Coming!" After waiting patiently for the apparent female, behind the door unlock it, the door finally opened, to reveal a…tired Erza clad in her pajamas with strawberries on them, with bed ragged hair and yawning; apparently haven just awoke a few minutes before. "Can I help you guys?" she asked as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Oh. Sorry Erza." Levy apologized. "I haven't seen you at Fairy Hills for some time and I noticed your belongings were gone as well, so I was wondering where you went."

Finally awake, Erza stared sternly at the other guild members who accompanied Levy and Mira, notably Lucy, Gray, and Elfman. "And the others who came with you?" She questioned.

Everyone but Levy and Mira grew nervous, even Elfman despite his self-proclaimed manliness. Finally Lucy spoke up. "Well, I don't see the harm in it, it would be nice to know where we could find you should something come up."

Erza closed her eyes and sighed to herself. "Fine. To answer your question Levy, this is my new house. I live here now." She explained, taking note of everyone's (excluding Mira) shocked expression at how Erza could afford such a house, let alone why make it so big for herself.

"Oi! Erza! Is someone here?" a voice called out from the inside of the house. Earning questioning looks from the fairy mages. Erza, taking notice of this reaction, resigned herself to all attention she was bound to receive in the future as she turned her head back to the door way, "Yes Natsu. It's just some of the guild members wondering where I live now." She replied.

Coming out of the kitchen, revealed Natsu, clad in only his white pants and sandals, oddly his hair was just as messy as before, as if sleep did nothing to change how his hair set on his head. "Oh! Hey Guys! Hi Luce! Do you guys want breakfast?" He greeted/questioned with a wide grin.

"But it's nearly noon." Levy mumbled, somewhat shocked to see Natsu in the same house as Erza.

"Uh, none for me. Thanks for the offer though." Lucy declined.

Levy, Elfman, and Gray (albeit with only slight curiosity), looked back to Erza with questioning looks once Natsu disappeared back into the kitchen to cook 'breakfast'. "What?" Erza asked, quite confused as to what she did to earn such stares.

Mira simply nudged Erza. "I think they want you to explain why Natsu is here."

Erza, catching on to what Mira was saying went slightly red in the face. "N-Natsu is living here."

"Does that mean…?" Levy began to question with slightly hopeful eyes, remember when she saw Natsu and Erza asleep on the train some time ago.

"Yes! Natsu and I are together." Erza blurted, her face now fully red.

In response to this, Levy was inwardly celebrating, obviously thinking the two would make a great pair. Gray was slightly shocked. He knew the two were close but he never thought they were actually together. Outwardly he only looked somewhat surprised, inwardly he was seething that Natsu beat him in getting a girlfriend before him. Elfman on the other hand…

"NATSU IS A TRUE MAN AMONG MEN!" the muscular white haired man roared, quite proud of Natsu's manliness to dare date the mighty Titania. However, this didn't last as his face was greeted with an armored foot, courtesy of a blushing Erza who briefly reequipped into some of her old armor.

Trying to calm down, Erza turned to the rest of the Fairy Tail mages. "I-is there anything else I can do for you?" She asked, somewhat flustered, yet annoyed. Apparently not needing anything else from the red head, the Fairy Tail mages bid their farewells as the left for the guildhall; minus Lucy who stayed behind for a brief moment."

"Oh! Now that I think about it, I have something for you and Natsu for when you visit the guild hall, it's a vacation to a resort. I was wondering if you want to go? It would be Me, you, Natsu, Gray, and Happy if he wants to join." Lucy explained.

Erza let a small smile grace her face. "Sure. I'd like to go. Thank you Lucy."

"Don't thank me, thank Loke, he was the one that gave them to me since he had to return to the Celestial world. Anyways, we'll leave tomorrow if that's fine with you guys."

Erza gave her a nod in confirmation and bid farewell to the celestial mage, before she returned inside.

* * *

Upon returning to the kitchen, Erza seated herself at the sizable table and watched Natsu cook their breakfast. "Did they not want to stay for food?" Natsu asked as he turned his head to the red head.

"It would appear not." Erza answered. "It matters not to me. It just means I can have more of your delicious cooking." Erza finished with a giddy look on her face, causing Natsu to laugh. In the time the two were together, Erza learned that from living on his own, Natsu came to be quite a skilled cook, which came as quite a shock considering he tend to only eat fish at his house and flaming meat when at the guild hall.

"You must really like my cooking." Natsu commented with a smirk.

"Of course! It's much better than almost anybody else's cooking!" Erza commented with a smile.

Natsu however, recalled something, causing his smirk to turn mischievous. "You say that, but you mostly only eat that cake of yours, minus when we go out to eat."

Erza simply pouted playfully, trying to hide the smile on her face; albeit to no avail. "That's no fair Natsu! Strawberry cake is the best food in the world!"

This time, it was Natsu's turn to pout. "I thought you said my food was better than almost anybody else's cooking."

"It is! You know strawberry cake is my favorite food." Erza argued.

Natsu laughed at that statement, recalling when he ate some the strawberry cake he bought for her along with the reaction of when he gave it to her. "Ok, I give!"

"Of course you do. I always win." Erza smirked, not thinking of what this statement may have cost her.

"Fine. No breakfast for you!" Natsu stated, playfulness evident in the tone of his voice, as he turned off the stove which he used to cook the food. Seeing the near 'begging' face of Erza, he relented however as he made up a plate for the two of them as he sat it on the table before sitting down himself.

"Sustenance!" Erza cheered, shocking Natsu at her excitement to eat his cooking. '_It's just some bacon, ham, and eggs.'_ He thought to himself as he saw Erza quickly devour everything on the plate. Oddly enough, part of the plate was gone as well. It was never to be found again. '_What really happened on that trip of hers?'_

The rest of the 'morning' went off nicely enough, with some playful banter between the young couple over food and what to do in the near future. Upon coming up to a good interjection point, Erza spoke up.

"Natsu, if offered, would you like to go to a resort for about a week? We would be staying on the ocean." Erza question, only going herself if Natsu went.

Natsu was somewhat confused at what brought this up, not that he thought anything bad of it. "As long as you come along, sure!" Natsu answered with a grin.

"Good! I ask because Loke gave Lucy some tickets to Akane resort. As far as I know, it would be Gray, Happy and Lucy with us." Erza explained with a smile, before her smile dropped to a look of sadness mixed with anger.

Natsu, taking notice of the change of expression couldn't help but ask. "Is something wrong Erza?"

"No, nothing. It's just that…It's somewhat close to…**that** place." Erza explained, her tone suddenly serious.

Catching on to what Erza was referring to, knew that this place was the result of Erza's terrible childhood. "Do you think **he** or any of **them** will try to get you?" Natsu asked, his tone just as serious; this matter only able to be taken as such.

"I don't know. I doubt it. It's been eight years now, but I doubt they really forgot about me. I don't think it would hurt to be somewhat cautious though." Erza answered.

"I see, that should not prevent us from having a good time with the others." Natsu stated with a smile gracing his face.

"You're right. Anyways, we should head to the guild. I believe Lucy would like to leave tomorrow and we should talk out the rest of the details with her." Erza stated as she left to the bathroom to tame her hair.

* * *

_**The Next Day at the Train Station**_

"Be sure to have a good time you guys!" Mira chirped happily as she watched Gray and Lucy enter the train with Happy. Natsu on the other hand was leaning against Erza as he shakily got on the train. "I'll be sure to keep your house safe and clean Erza!" She finished, earning a smile from the Titania.

"WE'LL KEEP IT SAFE LIKE REAL MEN! I PLACE OUR PRIDE AS ME -" Elfman began, but was cut off as he was elbowed in the stomach by Mira, causing the white haired man to keel over in pain. Silence was slightly ensued until the two saw the group of mages appear again in their train compartment

"Just have a good time you guys." Mira said with a smile

"We will! See you guys later!" Lucy waved out the window of the train compartment.

"Thank you Mira, we owe you much for this." Erza called out the window; Natsu already fast asleep against her.

* * *

_**Later at Akane Resort**_

The beach was quite relaxing for the group, Happy, by far was having the time of his life, trying to wrestle with the fish; trying to claim one as his dinner. Gray was simply laying under an umbrella, hiding from the glaring rays of the sun; apparently not liking the heat the sun gave off. Lucy was laying out in the open sun, trying to tan, despite trying to ignore the ogling eyes of nearby men, some even getting slapped by their significant others because of said ogling. Natsu and Erza on the other hand, did many things such as go swimming one minute, try to surf the waves at the next (ending with Natsu getting motion sickness again), splash each other with water, race each other down the beach and much more.

"Oi! Gray!" Natsu hollered as he came up to the resting ice-mage with Erza right besides him.

"What do you want Flame-Brain?" Gray groaned, as he was in the middle of a perfectly good nap; sitting up as he stared with minor annoyance at the couple.

"I bet me and Erza can kick your ass at building sand castles!" Natsu challenged with a cocky smirk on his face. Erza, next to him, had a competitive look on her face as well.

"Alright!" Gray yelled, suddenly not tired, and up for the challenge. "I could kick your ass any day of the week! With or without Erza to help you!"

"Oh? Is that so Gray?" Erza questioned with a smirk as she narrowed her eyes mischievously "I wouldn't bet on it being so lucky." She finished with a remark as she led the boys over to an area where they could begin their…competition; complete with two shovels and two small-ish buckets. An area not too far from the water, but not close enough to be in the way of passing people.

The trio, go to their 'designated' areas and prepared to build, before Gray stopped them. "Hold it. First off, what's the time limit?" He questioned.

Erza gave it some thought, she'd rather it not be too long, lest it get boring or it drags on too long. "I say about…thirty minutes will be good." She answered.

"Ok. Now, I propose we make it interesting." Gray stated with a smirk, already formulating what his terms will be.

Natsu was about to say something, but Erza shushed him. "Ok. We'll do that. If we win, you have to give **me** half your spending money for the casino and treat **Natsu** to an all-you-can-eat buffet."

Gray's smirk dropped slightly at that, especially knowing that Natsu could be a bottomless pit. "O-ok then. I accept that. My terms are if I win, you, **Natsu**, have to be my slave for a week." Gray retorted with his terms.

"Ha! As if I would ever be your -" Natsu was cut off by Erza's hand.

"We accept! Prepare to lose Gray!" Erza said with sheer determination, fire showing in her eyes.

And so the challenge was on. A challenge that Erza would take very seriously, cleverly using Natsu's fire to make small, uneven window panes from the sand to fit in the sand castle, while also using her skill with telekinesis to make Gray's shovel or bucket 'bump' into one of his more delicate structures; much the ice mage's frustration, who thought the world was simply going against him.

The ice mage, similarly to Natsu, used his magic to assist in the building of his own castle; using some of the water ingrained in some of the sand to freeze the some of the sand structures, albeit slightly to not be caught 'cheating' while also using his ice-make magic to make small windows for his castle.

Nearly 30 minutes have passed and the two teams were fairly even. Natsu and Erza building quite elegant structures with detail engrained into the sides; courtesy of Erza using one of her smaller swords to etch the details in. Gray on the other hand, lacked detail, but made up for what his castle had in height and shape, able to use his Ice-Make to make the structures more rigid and sharp looking while not freezing them completely.

"Alright, stop!" Erza called, as she along with Natsu and Gray, dropped their tools. "It's time. Let's get Lucy over here and we'll let her be the judge. However, we can't tell her who built what so she isn't biased." Erza explained, earning nods from Natsu and Gray as the red head called to the blonde who was still bathing in the sun. "Hey Lucy! Could you come over here for a minute?!" She then called.

After a small confirmation from the relaxing celestial mage, she made her way over to the trio. "What is you guys need?"

"We were wondering if you could judge which sand castle is better than the other." Erza answered as she along with Natsu and Gray moved aside to let the blonde look over the structures.

Over the course of about five minutes, Lucy was standing over standing over Natsu and Erza's sand castle, although not knowing it was theirs, and mumbled barely noticeable comments and dislikes about the structures and detail added in. As she made her way to Grays, she took note of the size of the buildings, lack of detail and many other things. As the trio watched on, Erza came to realize that it would be a close call, hoping to not lose Natsu to being a 'slave' to Gray for a week, as it would mean no massages, breakfast or anything for her in the meantime.

"Luuuuccyyy! Look at this fish I caught!" Happy called as he flew towards the blonde not knowing what she was doing and not overly paying attention that he was about to fly straight into her.

"What?" Lucy asked as she stood up from Gray's sand castle and turned…just too late to realize that Happy was about to hit her. Something that would cost Gray dearly as the impact cause Lucy to lose balance and fall straight on to Gray's sand castle.

***SMASH!***

Lucy fell flat on her back, with Happy off to the side of her, Lucy was dazed while Happy was knocked out. Both of them however, were laying in the ruins of Gray's sand castle; much to the ice mage's shock and horror and Natsu and Erza's amusement.

Seeing the ice mage's slumped expression that his master piece was destroyed, Erza couldn't help but rub it in. "Well Gray, it looks like Natsu and I win. Cough up the money." She stated with a smirk as she held out her hand; the outstretched hand being met with nearly 74,000 jewels that Gray got from…wherever, seeing as he only had his boxers on the whole time. "Thank you." Erza stated, as she turned to leave, taking Natsu with her so the two of them could go do more things around the beach with the money they acquired, leaving Lucy still dazed in the sand castle ruins, and Gray comically lamenting his crushed castle.

At the end of the first day, the whole group agreed that this was the vacation they need; given the events that conspired over the last two months. However, despite the free spirited fun of the group, Erza was slightly on edge of everyone around while Natsu was carefully looking for the people Erza described that may try to look for her.

* * *

_**Later that Evening**_

"Natsu! Erza! Gray, Happy, and I are going on ahead to the casino!" Lucy called to the couple through their hotel room door. She along with Gray and Happy were prepared to gamble what money they had away. With Gray, it was not much now.

"Alright! We'll be down shortly!" Erza called back, as she finished putting her scarlet hair up, now clad in a purple dress. "You ready Natsu?" She called to the bathroom just as the door opened up to show Natsu dressed casually, yet nicely.

"Yeah. I'm all ready to go." Natsu said with a wide smirk. For once Natsu forwent his usual clothing, courtesy of Erza suggesting he try something else out. Natsu was clad in a button up black t-shirt with gold trimming that he only half buttoned up, revealing much of his bare chest. His pants were now gray in color and reach all the way down to his feet which were now covered in closed shoes which were black as well. At last, his scaly white scarf was wrapped neatly around his neck. Overall he looked much neater contrary to his more wild style of clothing.

"Well, don't you look handsome?" Erza rhetorically asked with a seductive smirk, as she paced her way to him with a seductive sway to her hips.

"Thanks!" Natsu replied as Erza wrapper her arms around his left arm. The two then left to go to the casino.

Upon arriving to the casino, Natsu looked at the room in awe, as he never once went to a place like this, though he has heard of the games people played here as Erza taught him some when they were bored at the guild. Erza herself was amazed at seeing a casino so packed, as many people were here gambling their money away on slot machines, poker, blackjack and other assortments.

"So what do you want to do first?" Natsu asked as he looked to Erza who was still looped around his left arm.

"I'm not sure." Erza replied as she took a quick minute to scan the room, quickly coming up with her answer. "Actually, let's try blackjack over there." She pointed, "Lucy seems to be trying her luck with the slot machines, which she is bound to lose money and I don't find them very fun. Gray is playing poker, which he might do well at considering the constant scowl on his face, and they already have a game in progress. So I say we try blackjack instead."

"Alright then. Let's go." Natsu said, as he and Erza walked across the casino. Erza looked around as the two walked, and she took notice of two things: One, Lucy comically crying that she spent a good portion of her money on the slot machine and didn't get anything back. Two, tall, muscular man with a metal plate covering his jaw staring quite sternly in her direction. Erza brushed the latter off as she was sure the man was just hired guard and perhaps recognize her or was jealous of Natsu being with her.

The two played Blackjack and thanks to the way the two could read each other's expressions, the two were quite successful at beating the contenders; the dealer included. About an hour passed, and it was time for a dealer switchup. Erza was quite confident as she and Natsu had yet to lose any real money, but quickly lost this feeling once the new dealer arrived. She thought she recognized the man, his messy blonde hair whose style somewhat reminded her of Natsu's hair. She tossed this thought away once the man started serving the cards. Oddly enough, Erza noticed it was only her and Natsu playing before noticing the whole casino went quiet. She turned her head wondering where everyone else went, as did Natsu. That was when she heard a voice.

"It's been a long time…." Causing Erza to whip her around back at the dealer, who had a maniacal smirk on his face as he held up his deck of cards revealing everybody who was previously in the casino just seconds before. "…big sister."

Erza's eyes widened in shock as Natsu himself was also quite surprise. Erza knew it was a possibility that **they** might try to come get her, seeing as they were quite close to **that** place and it was hard to not trace her location considering her fame, but never did she realize it would be tonight. As such, Erza could only stutter out one word.

"S-S-Sho!?"

**That is the end of the chapter! Now begins the Tower of Heaven Arc! Anyways, I don't plan on writing the full arc out, mostly up until their arrival to the tower and skip to Natsu &amp; Erza fighting Jellal with my own little ending added to it. Will I keep coming out with chapters at a quicker pace? Maybe. So long as my time remains free and I can keep the ideas coming, which for the upcoming arcs will be stressed heavily as I don't know what I can do to make it different until the end of the Edolas arc. Most of my ideas will come flowing back near the Tenrou arc. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. As always, if you liked the chapter/story so far, feel free to leave a review of your thoughts / suggestions. If you have a question about the story or would like your own input on what I should do next, feel free to send me a PM and I'll get back to you on it.**


	7. Till Death Doesn't Do Us Part

**So time seemed to fly when it came to me writing this one. One moment it was February, next it was in the middle of March. I apologise for that. Anyways, primary reason here was I was quite stuck at how to get this chapter started and to get over it, I just did other things. I warn you now that the quality towards the beginning is a little 'meh'. I do hope you still like it none the less and I do hope you like my little 'idea' for the end.**

Talking – "Quotations"

Thoughts –_ 'Italics with contractions'_

Important words, people, etc. – **Bold**

Spells – **Underlined and bold**

_**The Life of a Dragon and Knight**_

_**Chapter 7: 'Til Death Doesn't Do Us Part**_

"S-S-Sho!?" Erza squeaked out in a mixture of surprise and confusion.

"It's been a long time big sister." The dark skinned blonde greeted with a sinister grin; continuing to hold the casino's customers captive in his cards.

Erza still stood completely taken aback by the sudden appearance of her childhood friend and former fellow slave. Natsu on the other hand, quickly regain his composure. "So, you're one of Erza's old friends."

The blonde lost his grin, now sporting a glare of anger. "No. She betrayed us. Jellal however, is giving her a chance to redeem herself: Come with us to the tower. Come 'home' Erza." The man offered, losing some of his angry glare in place of an almost 'true' smile.

Natsu stood silent, opting to let Erza handle it on her own; instead, looking around, noticing that Lucy was knocked out, her unconscious body being sat on by a young woman with cat-like features, and Gray was bound by a large man with a metal jaw. He tuned back into the situation just in time to hear Erza.

"And if I refuse?" Erza questioned, with a look of anger written on her face.

"Then, we will have to take care of…" the blonde began, turning to Natsu, "dispose, of your…boyfriend here, as well as your other friends, and we'll take you to the tower by force." His glare returning full force with a smile tugging at his face.

"Come on Sho, Jellal expects us to be back soon." A tall man with a metal jaw come up behind the couple, causing Erza to turn back.

"Simon. Is that you?" Erza asked, with tears brimming at her eyes.

Despite the cold emotionless stare he had, his face soften for a moment when he looked down at the red head's near distressed faced. "We've missed you Erza." He said before the turned to the blonde haired man again. "Sho, there's something you should know."

This just irritated the blonde, what could Simon have to tell him in the middle of something important. "What now Simon?"

"It's about the **truth** of what happened on **that** day." Simon said plainly, earning an intrigued look from Natsu, and a look of realization from Erza. "That day, Erza did not betray us, Jellal lied to us."

"What!?" Sho yelled in outrage, "Are you saying that Jellal has been lying to us about Erza for the last eight years?"

Simon nodded calmly. "Think about it Sho. Jellal, along with the rest of us, Erza included tried to escape the tower. Do you not think it strange how Jellal immediately changes his plans to building the tower and declaring Erza a traitor, saying she abandoned us?"

Sho lost his anger, seemingly accepted his words. It did seem strange to him that Erza lost her eye for him, was suddenly a traitor, but had accepted it as it came from their fellow slave. "I….I'm sorry Erza." Sho apologized with tear brimming at his eyes.

Erza simply walked around the table and embraced the blonde in a warm hug. "It's alright. However, we must stop Jellal."

"R-right!" Sho choked, as he wiped the tears away with his arm. He then turned to Millianna who was still sitting on Lucy's body. "Millianna, wake her up and untie the ice mage. After that, go get Wally. There has been a change of plans."

Despite the questioning look on her face, the cat like lady simply got up and nudged the celestial mage awake before proceeding to untie Gray who simply grumbled as he got up.

Minutes later, the group was assembled. Gray, Lucy, Erza, Natsu, Sho, Simon, Millianna, Wally, were ready to go to the Tower of Heaven. "How long will it take to get there?" Erza asked as calmly as she could, despite being quite nervous, and somewhat scared at returning to the place that made her childhood a living hell.

Simon was the first to respond. "Not too long, though, we must hurry, I'd wager Jellal will know of our treachery soon enough."

Natsu simply smirked, "Doesn't matter! We'll go in there and kick Jellal's ass and destroy this Tower of Heaven!" Natsu roared to the open sky above him, before he strode to the ocean, unaware that the mode of transportation being a small boat. "Oh hell no!"

Erza simply palmed her face. "This is the only way to the Tower, Natsu."

Natsu's face simply turned a shade of green, before regaining its color as he turned back to argue with the scarlet haired woman. "No thank you! I'd rather fl-" He could say no more as Erza promptly landed a solid punch to his stomach, effectively knocking him out, much to the shock/amusement to the onlookers.

"Sorry, but you'd be burnt out of magic power by the time we got there," She said, before turning to the ocean and the tower hidden beyond the horizon, "and I'm betting we'll need every bit of it."

* * *

_**A Couple Hours Later At the Top of the Tower of Heaven**_

"My tower! How dare you?! I spent eight years building this thing and you just go and blow it up!" Jellal roared, beyond enraged at the rampaging rose haired mage.

"I'd do it over and over for an eternity for all the suffering it's caused Erza and her friends!" Natsu roared and he blurred in and out of view with his ethernano induced **Dragon Force** enhanced abilities; his speeds exceeding that of Jellal's Heavenly Body Magic.

Meanwhile, Erza was still clutching Simon's lifeless body as she tearfully watched the equally enraged Natsu battle the Wizard Saint, her eyes wide when she saw the power he currently harnessed. "I-is this really Natsu?" She questioned quietly to herself; confused as to how Natsu was able to eat the etherion infused lacrima, which held all types of magic power, and absorb it to increase his own to outmatch that of Jellal's.

Natsu flew forward, landing a hard flame covered punch on the unaware Jellal, unable to keep up with Natsu's speed, therefore sending him through a support beam in the tower, further ruining the remaining stability of the tower. Jellal proceeded to tumble away, unable to stop his momentum from the attack until he activated his **Meteor** spell to both stop his momentum, and project himself straight back at the dragon slayer; arching a magic imbued fist.

Natsu simply moved his head out of the way as he retaliated with a flaming knee to the blue haired man's stomach; stopping him dead in his tracks as he fell to the ground in absolute agony. The man in question took a few moments to regain air and recover from the agony before rage blinded him completely

"THAT'S IT! I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" The enraged blue haired man roared, as he charged his magic power into something dark… a familiar spell to both Natsu and Erza.

'_Abyss Break! Is he really that far gone?'_ Erza thought in horror, as she noticed Natsu impassively standing there watching the Wizard Saint gather magic power. "Stop this now Jellal! Are you really going to destroy the tower as well!?"

"AHAHAHA! I'll simply just rebuild it in another eight years! No! I'll do it in less than four! Zeref's resurrection will come none the less!" The now clearly insane mage yelled in response.

Natsu, now deciding to act, simply started to focus on gathering air in his lungs as he arched his back. **"****Fire Dragon's…**"he mumbled slightly to himself in difficulty, trying to not lose any of the air he inhaled, he let his remaining magic power loose. "**ROAR!**" he roared as he brought his hands together in a fist in front of his mouth as a large stream of dragon fire erupted from his mouth/fist towards to blue haired man.

"W-What is this po-" No more was said as Jellal was covered in fire, his spell dissipating instantly and was flown back from the force, crashing into the last of the Tower's support, and off into the ocean.

Natsu was panting heavily from the use of all his magic power, the stress of using the lacrima to induce his dragon force was of no help as well. Erza on the other hand was staring in awe at what she saw take place. Natsu beat Jellal, effectively ending a nightmare that has haunted her for eight years. She was about to thank him when she notice his already erratic breathing worsen as he started his inevitable collapse to the Tower's floor.

"Natsu!" Erza yelled as she weakly ran over to him to stop his fall, in the process embracing him with all her might. "T-t-thank you! For everything!" She tearfully thanked, as she held the barely conscious dragon slayer against her.

Originally she was going to wait a few minute before trying to leave the tower, as both of them were severely exhausted, Natsu more than her, now unconscious, from the strenuous fight, however, 'fate' had other plans. The etherion infused lacrima Tower was becoming unstable, courtesy of both Natsu's fight, and the lack of a vessel to merge with the lacrima. '_We've got to get out of her, and fast!_' Erza thought hastily as she sluggishly tried to lift Natsu's unconscious form before eying Simon's corpse. She silently lamented that she would be unable to properly bury the man, as she tried to find the fastest way out of the tower, but hoped that the man would understand should he have been able to see the situation she was placed in.

Short minutes passed as Erza unsuccessfully tried to move both herself and Natsu towards the…'exit' of the tower. Only when the tower started to shake violently and rays of pure light started to shine through the lacrima did Erza come to a realization. _'We won't make it like this! There must be a way!_' Erza thought in a panic as she tried to think back to what Jellal said at the beginning of the fight.

"**Only a mage with the magic power of a Wizard Saint can fuse with the lacrima"** he had said at the time, except, the point of 'fusing' with the lacrima was to use their body as a vessel in which Zeref could be revived.

"Hmm, let's see." Erza thought out loud as she set Natsu down not far from a wall of Lacrima. "Will it still accept me?" she then proceeded to press her hand against the 'wall', and for a brief second, nothing happened which worried her. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on who looked at the situation, the lacrima wall started to pulse as Erza's arm started to be pulled in, causing her to wince in pain. "Good. It still accepts me."

Unknown to Erza, Natsu was just waking up in time to see Erza testing out the wall. "E-Erza? What are you doing?" He asked groggily as he shakily tried to get up from the floor.

Erza was shocked at this, she had hope he would not wake up to see what she was about to do. She felt tear brim at her eyes as she turned to the almost scared looking dragon slayer. "I-I'm going to fuse with the lacrima, to save our guild. You. I'm going to direct the blast upwards."

* * *

_**Outside the Tower, on the Shore**_

"Is everyone here?" Lucy asked as she along with a group of mages walked to the shore line.

"Yeah, I'm here." Millianna stated as she fell straight to the ground, exhausted.

"I'm here, but Simon is not." Sho said with worry, as he looked around. "Don't tell me he's still in the tower."

Gray came up, as he was at the back of the group. "I wouldn't worry too much, Natsu and Erza are with him. I'm sure everything will be fine." He said with confidence. On the inside however, he was just as worried if not more so than the blonde card-mage. '_Those two better hurry up. It's gonna blow any second now!_'

* * *

_**Back at the Tower with Natsu &amp; Erza**_

"W-what? You're going to fuse with the lacrima? After all I did to prevent you from doing so in the first place!?" Natsu asked in a rage.

Erza at this point, couldn't hold her tears, knowing how much she was hurting him at this point. "I-it's the only way, or else we, along with everyone else, will die." Her entire right arm engulfed at this point.

"NO!" Natsu roared as he pulled Erza's arm out of the lacrima. "I-I can't let you do this. If you die…It…it would kill me!" he stated, his own tears falling now; as he held Erza close, refusing to let her go, much to her happiness/surprise.

Erza simply sighed, effectively ending her tears. "What do we do then?" She asked as she looked around and saw they had only a minute or two left until detonation.

"Together."

She blinked. '_Together?_' she thought, completely thrown off by the 'vague' answer. "What do you mean?"

Despite the grim situation, Natsu smiled. "I mean, we could use this together." He explained, pointing to the lacrima wall besides the two.

"But then you as well as I, will die! I want you to at least to live!" Erza exclaimed.

"And I told you, I can't live without you." Natsu responded, his face taking an expression of sadness. "I'd rather die with you."

Erza had no words to say in response to his conviction to rather die with her than live without her. After a few seconds, which felt like an eternity to the couple, she smiled. "Together it is then." Earning a toothy grin from the rose haired mage as the two, together pushed their hands to the lacrima wall, as surprisingly to the duo, the lacrima started to pull both of them in. Seconds later, the two of them were largely enveloped, the last thing each other saw from one another was the loving look, on both of their faces as soon enough, the entirety of their bodies disappeared.

* * *

_**At the Shoreline **_

Gray's patience wore away to nothingness as he couldn't contain himself anymore. "NATSU! ERZA! GET OUT OF TH-" He was cut off by the tower finally detonating. The tower being entirely covered in light as the blast, surprisingly did not take them out, instead it seemed…controlled, as it was completely directed into the sky.

Lucy felt her knees go weak as the light produced by the tower dimmed and vanished. They were gone. Natsu. Erza. The very reason she joined Fairy Tail. Dead. In a flash of white light.

Sho, Millianna, and Wally faired just as bad, both not taking news of Erza and Simon's presumed death well; Sho visibly crying while Millianna and Wally had very sorrowful expressions.

Minutes passed. Then an hour. It became apparent to them that Natsu, Erza, Simon, and Jellal were most likely dead. Incinerated by the tower's explosion. Despite their grief, the mages knew they must move on.

Lucy watched as the former slaves leave, before she too was about to leave, but not before she walked to Gray who's head was down. "Gray." She said, although she failed to get a response. "Gray" This time she nudged the ice make mage. "Gray, I know this is hard on you, but we've got to move on, they saved our lives. The least we can do is not take their deaths so hard."

The raven haired man, said nothing, but nodded slightly. It wouldn't have been how he would have said it, but he knew what she was trying to convey. Following her lead, the duo started their trek to their hotel to rest up before relaying the news to the rest of the guild.

* * *

_**An Hour Later, Miles from the Tower of Heaven**_

An old man was simply sitting on the swing, located on the front porch of his house which faced the ocean. He did this every night, especially on a beautiful night like tonight. One thing that set this night apart from the rest was the quite noticeable ray of light that shot into the sky just an hour ago. He had wondered if it was those mages he always heard about, using their magic to make a light show for some passerby who requested it, but he didn't think on it longer as he let it slip from his mind. For now he was just enjoying the nice breeze the ocean gave me. That is, until he heard a large…wave…hit his shore.

'_Odd, tide doesn't hit the shore until midday; even then it hasn't receded either._' The old man thought. He decided to check it out. He went inside his humble home to grab an old styled lantern and lit it before trudging down to the salty waters to investigate the noise he heard. He walked to the spot where he heard the noise and much to his shock/surprise, he saw two figures. Two humanoid figures.

The old man promptly ran as fast as his old body would allow to the figures. Upon getting close he used his lantern to illuminate their bodies to see who they were. One had rose hair? _'That's not a very common hair color around here._' He thought, he notice the man lacked any form of shirt or shoes and what used to be his baggy pants were now shredded and could pass as ragged shorts. He turned to his…companion and was stunned. She had scarlet red hair. She too like her fellow 'wash-up' lacked much of her original clothing, which between the Tower blowing up and washing ashore, unconsciously requip back to her white blouse and blue skirt. The blouse itself was in tatters revealing a black bra, her skirt was torn in various places but was in better shape than the blouse, and was missing one of her black boots she usually wore with the outfit.

'_These two, they look like they've been through hell and back more than 100 times._' The old man mused, not yet having checked if the two were alive. He did notice however, that the two's hands were interlocked. '_Cute._' He thought, before he decided to finally check if the duo were alive.

He set the lantern down, and brought both of his hands to their necks to check for a pulse. For a moment he was sure he felt nothing, until he further concentrated on finding a pulse and he felt it. '_There! They're alive. Barely._' He thought, quite surprised that two people, who look banged up beyond belief, possibly floating adrift for possibly hours at sea unconscious, were still alive.

"Heh, you two sure are tough." The old man chuckled to himself, as he got up and ran into his house again, to clear his tables into makeshift operating tables. "And here I thought, I retired from being a doctor years ago."

**I do hope you like my little...twist(?) for this chapter as it was the funner things to write, once the fight started, the writing came more smoothly to me. If you expected a slightly longer chapter given the time since the last updated, I apologise. Anyways, next up is the Funeral and Recovery and more non canon stuff. After that, I'm skipping the Battle of Fairy Tail Arc as I don't have any ideas to make interesting, so it will be skipped to partially into the Oracion Seis Arc (mostly towards beginning then skipped to the end). Anyways, like always, if you liked this story, leave a review/comment with your thoughts. If you have a question or suggestion, feel free to shoot me a message and I'll give you an answer. I'll see you next time (hopefully within a month if not earlier).**


	8. A Time Spent Recovering

**Hello. I am back with another chapter of Life With A Knight and Dragon, and I must say, now that I'm getting farther into the story I start to realize what all I wish I would have changed before I laid the foundation of the story. Ah well. Anyways, this chapter is a tad bit shorter than what I usually like to write, but I had nothing else to really add as I wanted the 'next part' to be of a separate chapter.**

Talking – "Quotations"

Thoughts –_ 'Italics with contractions'_

Important words, people, etc. – **Bold**

Spells – **Underlined and bold**

_**The Life of a Dragon and Knight**_

_**Chapter 7: A Time Spent Recovering**_

Rain poured heavily over the normally sunny Magnolia. A rain that poured so heavily it was as if the heavens themselves were 'weeping' due to the significance of this day. A day of memorial for a certain two people.

At the local cemetery, every guild mage from Fairy Tail stood, heads bowed with some members weeping. To make matters worse, at the headstones in front of them, there were no bodies to even be buried; just hollow caskets.

"Today, we gather here to mourn the passing of Fairy Tail mages Erza Scarlet and Natsu Dragneel; both of whom have been a part of our family since the time they were children. Gone, sacrificing themselves to save others." Makarov began, he himself while not showing his grief, was just as equally down as the rest. "However, despite our grief, let us not dwell on their passing; to continue mourning. Instead, let us celebrate the life they lived, to live on happily; for they would not want us to dwell on their deaths. I'm not asking you all to forget them, remember them, but make the memory a means to strive forward in earnest and not sadness." He finished, as he looked over the group of mages, some looking up with determination replacing their previous sadness.

With his words finished, he allowed the various mages go up and pay their respects either by sharing a few words or leaving a gift. He noticed that Gray, Lucy, and Happy took their deaths particularly hard, having been on the couple's team the longest, namely Happy. He continued to look on in slight sadness, but also joy that despite the tragic deaths of Natsu and Erza, everyone in the guild did something in respect to the two; even Laxus, despite his dislike of the two, paid his respect for their strength.

In what seemed like an eternity, when actually only an hour, the caskets were buried, side by side, next to a headstone that read **"Lisanna Strauss"**, and everyone started to return to their homes, understandably not desiring to return to the guildhall for the day. Makarov himself however, decided to go to the guild himself, close it down himself, and have a few drinks himself while he worked on various paper work in his office for the night.

* * *

A certain red-head jolted awake with a gasp, immediately regretting the action as her entire body lit aflame in pain, causing her to groan. "Easy there, you shouldn't be moving so quickly." A clearly more older male's voice sounded to her right, "Hell, I'm surprised you woke up as soon as you did, let alone even live." The man voiced, with a slight humor lacing his words at the end. Erza simply clutched her head, as she tried to shake away the dream she had. "Are you alright?" He asked, despite knowing the answer.

"Minus the pain? I'm fine, just a bad dream." Erza weakly, surprising herself with how she sounded.

"Oh? Mind telling me about it?" The old man questioned. "If you wish not to, I'll understand."

"No, it's fine. Not much to say about the dream really. I dreamt of Natsu and I's funeral." She explained.

"Oh? Is that the youngster's name?" The old man mused, as he looked at her confused face. "Before you ask, he's fine. He's actually to your left; you wouldn't let go of the poor boy for the longest time when you both were out."

Erza's cheeks tinged with red, before she looked over to see Natsu's sleeping form; noticing he was just as bandaged as she was. "H-how long have we been out?" Erza asked.

"Well, he has yet to wake; I honestly don't expect him to for another week or so; though if he's anything like you, he might wake in a couple days. To answer your question however, it's been about two weeks. I almost thought you'd never wake."

"T-t-two weeks?!"

"Like I said, I almost didn't think you'd wake at all, and if you did, not in the amount of time you took. Regardless, you both are still quite injured. You should lie down and try to get more rest." The man explained, calmly. Erza wasn't sure who he was or why he was helping them, but he seemed friendly enough, at least to make sure she and Natsu were treated.

The laid flat on her back, staring at a dimly lighted ceiling with a lacrima powered ceiling fan slowly spinning to bring down a gentle breeze in the humidly hot night. She wondered how the guild took the news of her and Natsu's 'death'. If her dream was anything to go buy, they would not be the same for some time.

"I apologize for disturbing you after I just asked you to rest, but you never told me your name." The man stated as he reentered the room with a gentle smile.

"Oh. It's Erza. Erza Scarlet." Erza replied quietly, starting to feel drowsy, but loud enough for the man to hear. "T-thank you for savin-" She did not finish her sentence as sleep quickly overcame her resistance.

The old man smiled gently. In reality, he should be thanking them. It brought back the feeling of helping someone, to save their life. That and with him living alone and out of the way of civilization, he grew quite lonely; so he naturally enjoyed any company he received. He yawned. It was starting to get late, the sun already disappearing over the horizon, so he decided to switch the bandages on the rose haired mage, whose name he just found to be 'Natsu' before getting some rest; having change the red-head's just a couple hours before.

* * *

_**One Week Later**_

"I'm surprised Erza. From how you looked when you woke up, I would have said it would have taken up to nearly a month before you were up and walking around freely; yet here you are, walking around, albeit with minor trouble, after just a week." The old man praised. In the week after the scarlet-haired woman awoke, she seemed to be healing much faster than anticipated; being able to finally get on her feet by the fifth day, and able to walk by the seventh. Natsu had yet to wake up, which Erza could understand as he took much more punishment than she had. Fusing with Lacrima as well as eating some probably did not help him either. In the meantime Erza helped the old man around his small cottage, ranging from getting medicine and supplies for Natsu, changing the dragon slayers bandages, and getting food from nearby towns or fishing from the ocean. The fish, Erza now understood why Natsu and Happy ate it all the time: it was **good**.

"I'm not sure what's going on myself. I naturally recover from my wounds faster than my guild mates, but they were mostly minor wounds." Erza explained, as she finished cooking some fish the way Natsu had taught her in the past and brought it over.

"Well, I'm no mage, I'm merely a retired doctor, but from your story, it could be that the effects of fusing your body with this magic empowered lacrima have altered your body; most noticeably in the way that you recover from you wounds; healing from more major wounds nearly as fast as normal person would heal from a small wound." The old man explained, as he took a fish from Erza, nodding his thanks in the process.

Erza stood surprised at this theory. It would make sense that **fusing** with the Tower of Heaven would have some…permanent effects on her body, but did not suspect to augment her healing. "And what of Natsu? What affects could be placed on him?" Erza inquired, curious as to what 'augments' happened to Natsu.

"Well, I can't say. He could as well have the same as you. You're healing didn't become noticeable until **after** you regained consciousness." The retired doctor explained. "If it is, or it isn't, we won't know until after he wakes up; which actually should be soon, if we stick to my original assumption, especially given how much more he's moving around." He finished, before he looked over at Erza's plate, seeing she had yet to eat her fish. "Are you going to eat that?

"Huh?" Erza asked, somewhat surprise by his new question of a different topic. "Oh, No, you can have it." She replied, as she handed her untouched fish to the old man.

The retired doctor took the remaining fish and chowed it down with surprising speed, reminding Erza of Natsu and Erza's eating habits. "Thanks. Anyways, were you going to write to your guild to tell them the both of you were alive? I'm sure that they would be delighted to hear from you." He inquired.

"I'd rather wait until Natsu awakens, even then, I'd rather not return until he fully recovers. Besides, it's peaceful, and I have much to do to repay your kindness and hospitality." Erza explained.

"Nonsense! It's the least I could do. You need not have to repay me. I enjoy the company and the food that you cook. You cook fish quite well."

"Natsu taught me to cook fish that way." Erza stated.

"Oh? Usually it's the woman that knows how to cook. No offense." The old man stated, before rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"It's fine. He learned how to cook quite well since he was raised by his adopted father in the forest." Erza explained.

"He does have that sort of…wild look about him." the retired doctor noted.

"He does." Erza said, rubbing her eyes. "Anyways, I'm going to get some rest."

"Alright then, sleep well." The old man bid farewell to the retreating red-head to sleep next to her rose haired companion.

* * *

_**A Couple Days Later**_

A groan escaped his lips as he slowly found himself waking up, not taking note of what time of day, or any nearby sleepers. "Oi! Young lass, he's awakening." An old man's voice he noticed, called to a familiar red-head's voice.

"E-E-Erza?" he croaked, almost unable to speak due to his lack of using his vocal cords. He opened his eyes to see a figure above him; however was unable to make out who it was due to his heavily unfocused vision. After a quick second, he focused his eyes on the figure to see an old man, with a full head of messy silver hair, gazing down at him.

"Hello young lad! Good to see you're finally awake. Your friend will be quite happy you're awake!" The old doctor state with a grin on his face as he watched the rose haired mage slowly raise himself to a sitting position.

"Where am I?" Natsu asked weakly as he looked around the small residence. His question though, would be left unanswered as a certain red-head burst through the door.

"Natsu!" Erza shouted, as she dived herself at the dragon slayer, narrowly missing the old doctor, tackling the rose haired man into a tight embrace. "I thought you'd never wake up." Natsu however, could not respond as the tight embrace of the scarlet haired woman was cutting off his airflow due to the grip around his neck.

"C-c-c-can't….b-b-breath." Natsu gasped out in desperation, earning a hearty laugh from the old man as he looked on, and a look of embarrassment from Erza as she realized she was hurting him. Upon pulling away and regaining.

"O-oh. Sorry." She apologized with slight embarrassment written on her face.

"Ah, to be young. Anyways lad, you are at my humble abode. I've been treating you for quite some time now." The old man answered, upon calming himself from the previous display of affection.

"Some time?" Natsu asked, quite confused.

"Aye. Just under a month if memory still serves me." The old man replied with a grin. "Anyways, I'll leave you two be, your…friend here has some more important things to speak with you about." With that, the old man left the small room.

"Almost a month, huh?" Natsu sighed out, to him it felt like a simple night's sleep.

"Yeah. We were never certain if you would ever awake. You were pretty messed up after the tower's explosion." Erza explained.

"How did we survive it. I thought Jellal said that he/she who merges with the lacrima will die?" Natsu asked.

"It did, technically." Erza confirmed, before a slight grin overlapped her expression. "But there was more than one person that merged last I recall."

Natsu seemed to accept that answer, he was not that great at various affects lacrima would have on a body let alone fusing with it. It made his head hurt. "Does the guild know?"

"No. They believe us dead." Erza answered, with a solemn look in her eyes.

"WHAT!? We need to get back to them!" Natsu roared.

Erza simply held the rose haired mage down at the shoulders as he thrashed slightly. "Natsu! Calm down. I was going to wait until you awoke before I sent word of our survival. I didn't want to give false hopes that you were alive." Erza explained.

With this answer, Natsu slumped a bit. _'Dead. They believe us dead?'_

"Once you recover, we shall head back." Erza continued as she let go of his shoulders and got off the bed. "Anyways, I must go get some food. I believe **he** wants me to cook fish again tonight and I assume you'll want some too." Erza finished with a knowing smile that fish would get Natsu worked up.

"Some? I want a ton!" Natsu exclaimed, causing Erza to giggle.

"Well, in the meantime, try to get some rest while I get it ready." Erza requested, as she turn to leave as Natsu calmed down so he could rest.

* * *

_**Outside**_

"How is he?" the old man asked as he notice the red-head walk out of the cottage; he himself trying to catch some fish, albeit quite futilely as he only got a couple bites but actual catch.

"I assume you mean "based on how he acts"? From that, he seems normal other than being more…energetic than normal." Erza explained, as she walked knee deep into the ocean, grabbed a fishing rod next to the old man and casted her reel into the water as well.

The old man gave a small chuckle at this answer. "Well, stay in a bed for nearly a month straight and you will feel quite the same way." He replied as he jerked his pole upward as he 'felt' a bite, only to get nothing but a small tadpole.

Erza gave a quiet laugh at the retired doctor's misfortune, especially given the deadpanned expression he gave before she felt a tug at her own line. She let the line continue to be pulled to make sure it wasn't a fluke, before she jerked her pole up. She met with success as a 9 inch fish, the type unknown to her, came sailing onto the shore; before she promptly unhooked it and tossed it in a small bucket between her and the doctor.

"The fish seems to like young women more than old men." The retired doctor lamented comically, earning a sinister grin from the Titania.

"And that will be their downfall. We are having roasted fish tonight!" She stated with determination before she quickly casted her line back to the water.

* * *

_**Two Weeks Later. Fairy Tail Guildhall**_

"I have a message for a Makarov Dreyar!" A courier shouted as he pushed his way into the guildhall, not taking note of the solemn atmosphere the once lively guild gave off until he stopped and looked around. "Uh, I'm sorry, is now not a good time?" The courier asked meekly once he saw some of the glares some of the members gave him.

"No, you are fine. It is no fault of yours." A short old man stated as he walk down the stairs from the 2nd floor. "I'm Makarov, what is this message you bring."

"I've no idea what the message is I'm afraid. A retired doctor North of Akane resort asked me to give this to you." The courier explained, having relaxed slightly once he was assured by the guild master.

Everyone present in the hall, most prominently Gray, Lucy, Cana, Elfman, Mira, Levy, and Macao, had their face light up. The resort's name having sparked their attention and looked on in anticipation. "Very well, I'll take it. You are dismissed." Makarov stated, and with a small bow the courier left quickly, not having intended on staying as long; and as such, was 'late' for his next stop.

"What is it Master?" Gray asked as he came up to the bar where Makarov was now sitting.

"It's a letter, Gray." Makarov stated plainly.

A slight tick mark appeared on the ice-mage's head as he resisted the urge to yell. "Can you tell us what it says?" He strained to say 'politely'.

Makarov didn't respond for a few moments before he opened up the sealed letter; his mood brightening significantly as he finished it.

"**We're Alive. Be home soon."**

** -N &amp; E**

"Well?" Gray asked, now impatient, as well as the rest of the guild to find out what information this letter had.

Makarov simply grinned as he burnt the paper to ashes and stood upon the stool before he addressed the guild. "Children. Prepare for the biggest Fairy Tail celebration yet! Natsu and Erza are coming home!"

**That is the end of this one. I hope you enjoy it. For those who will wonder, the time it will take for the two get return will make the Fighting Festival arc be skipped, what has happened will be explained. So the next chapter will be a short 'start' to the Nirvana Arc before skipping to the end, and I might continue on to start the Edolas Arc. I have yet to decide 100%, and it will simply be decided on when I get down to write it. Anyways, if you enjoyed this chapter or the story so far, be sure to follow, favorite or leave a review. If you have question about the story in general or anything of a more unrelated subject you can leave it in a review or shoot me a PM and I'll be sure to answer or address it in the next chapter. Later!**


	9. Oracion Seis

**Hello everyone! I'm a little bit late with this one, but on the other hand, the chapter is longer (4,755 words before this author note). Hopefully this will make up for that. This chapter will cover the Oracion Seis arc and not much else for that matter. Any who, I hope you enjoy!**

Talking – "Quotations"

Thoughts –_ 'Italics with contractions'_

Important words, people, etc. – **Bold**

Spells – **Underlined and bold**

_**The Life of a Dragon and Knight**_

_**Chapter 9: Oracion Seis**_

_**Two Weeks Later**_

Not very much happened following the recent return of Natsu and Erza, that is to say, if one didn't consider Fairy Tail's 'biggest' party yet as 'much' happening. In the time the two were 'dead', Lucy and Mira informed the couple of the happenings around the guild; namely Laxus's attempt to take over the guild. An event that Natsu and Erza were surprised [to learn] that Laxus actually called it off half way through once he learned from Levy that Makarov was in critical condition following his collapse after Laxus activated his **Thunder Palace**. Following Makarov's recovery, Laxus himself, much to the surprise of the guild as well as Natsu and Erza, agreed with Makarov excommunicating him from the guild; that is to say, only if the rest of the Thunder God Tribe were allowed to remain as members of the guild. Other than the Fantasia Parade being held following the dragon slayer's excommunication, the Titania was relieved to know that nothing too 'tragic' happened in her and Natsu's absence.

"So why did it take you two so long to return?" Lucy asked with a confused look on her face.

Erza simply closed her eyes and sighed, preparing to explain the reason behind the length of their absence. "Other than the fact it took nearly two weeks following the events of the tower before I even awoke? It was mostly just waiting for Natsu to regain consciousness and recover long enough for him to make the trip back." She explained, pointing to Natsu, who Lucy took notice of the fire mage's still heavily bandaged torso and arms earlier.

"How long did it take for Natsu to wake up?" Lucy continued to ask, eager to learn a good portion of the details of the couple's recovery.

"It took the better part of a month for him to awake." Erza answered, earning the surprise of Lucy and some of the nearby guild members who overheard the answer. The two continued to talk for some time about the time the couple spent with the retired doctor and the things she did while waiting for Natsu to awake. Soon after, Erza heard her name called out.

"Erza." An old voice called out, causing the scarlet haired woman to look to the source to see the guild master looking down at her from the 2nd floor. "May I speak with you in my office?" he asked with a serious look on his face.

"Of course Master." Erza responded almost immediately with small bow of her head. She got up from the bar and gave a short look at Natsu, who was busy consuming fish with Happy at a nearby table, before heading upstairs to the guild master's office.

Upon, entering the room, Erza closed the door, knowing what was to be told in this room was to be kept privy to themselves only until further action. "You can sit if you want Erza." Makarov gestured as he sat behind his desk.

"No thanks Master, I've sat around enough this last month and a half." Erza refused politely.

"I understand, but it is a rest you both well deserve." He stated, before continuing, "Anyways, I called you up here for two reasons. First, I am glad to see both you and Natsu alive and well. Many of us, including the Council believed you both dead; but it brings me great joy that you both are not. Second, I regret asking this of you since you are basically back from the dead, in a matter of speaking, but I need someone to take up a very important task."

"It is of no problem. I will accept this task." Erza stated, almost surprising the old master with her eagerness to being. Though, he quickly dismissed the thought as her just wanting to get back to work; not that he would blame her, being cooped up in a house recovering.

"I would at least hear me out before accepting." Makarov chuckled. "Anyways, the guild Blue Pegasus contacted us."

"Master Bob's guild?" Erza questioned with a raised eyebrow. The two guilds were friendly but rarely contacted each other, other than the gathering of guild masters.

"Yes, they contacted us and requested our aid along with another guild with the elimination of a dark guild." He started, pausing a brief moment to take a drink of his alcoholic drink he had at the side of his desk. "I believe you have heard of Oracion Seis?"

"One of the dark guilds that make up the Balam Alliance? They're supposed to be one of the strongest active dark guilds." Erza answered.

"Correct. It would seem they are up to something, though I have yet to learn why; however maybe Blue Pegasus will know more. Last I heard, Oracion Seis was in the North forest up near Cait Shelter. You're specific task is to assemble a team, meet up with the guilds: Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, and Cait Shelter, then stop Oracion Seis at whatever they are doing." Makarov finished.

"Understood. Then if I may suggest, I would like to bring Natsu, Lucy, and Gray." Erza suggested, though she wasn't sure if Natsu was back to one hundred percent.

"That is acceptable. You will leave in two days' time. Hopefully it will be enough for you to arrange transportation and allow Natsu the extra bit of time to finish his recovery." Makarov replied before he dismissed the Titania to resume his paper work; the said work being of how he would explain to the Magic Council of Natsu and Erza's survival. "I wonder if I should let the two know that council elected them as Wizard Saints when they 'died'?" he mumbled to himself, before chuckling. "Nah, Erza would be fine, but Natsu would become too boastful to Gray about it."

* * *

_**A Few Moments Later, Downstairs in the Guildhall**_

"…And that is what we are assigned to do." Erza finished, having explained to Natsu, Gray, and Lucy of the mission they are to complete.

A short moment of silence enveloped the group. Lucy, most notably, was fidgeting around. Having heard that she would have to go against one of the top Dark Guilds in the country was…unnerving, to say the least; not that one would blame her.

"I-I'm not sure if I should go this time. I would be more of a hindrance." Lucy stated, with fear lacing her voice as she lowered her head.

Erza raised an eyebrow at the blonde. Normally she was confident towards many of her challenges. "Nonsense Lucy. I believe I speak for both Natsu and Gray when I say you'll do fine. Erza commented with a small smile; with Natsu and Gray nodding in agreement.

"Thanks you guys." Lucy thanked with a smile.

"You said that Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus was helping us out right?" Gray questioned Erza, who nodded in reply. "Do you happen to know who in particular will be joining us? I mean it would be nice to know so we could adjust our team accordingly." Gray explained.

"Well, I wasn't informed of who in particular would be joining us, but if Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, and Cait Shelter see Oracion Seis' actions as possibly severe, It would be safe to say that we should expect at **least** Jura of the Wizard Saints whose apart of Lamia Scale and Ich-" Erza stopped to shiver at the unpleasant memories of the name brought her, "-iya of Blue Pegasus as they are the respective aces of their guild. The rest, I'm afraid, I don't know." Erza finished.

Gray simply sighed as he brought his hand to scratch his head. "I see, with this kind of unknown, shouldn't we add more members to our team? Someone like Elfman or Cana?"

"Well, if it was anyone less than those guilds, I would say yes, but the more people we add to our team the more chaotic it could end up when the fighting begins." Erza explained to Gray, who understood her reasoning. "I'm sure they will send whole teams just like us."

"So when are we leaving?" Natsu butted in, having been quiet for the entirety of the discussion; mostly due to his upset stomach from the fish he ate not moments ago.

"The master said we would leave in two days. By then I will hopefully have our transportation arranged and you will be closer to being fully healed." Erza explained, earning a grunt from the dragon slayer at the thought holding the team back due to his injuries. '_Almost four weeks and still not recovered. Could it be the effects of the Etherion infused Lacrima he consumed to defeat Jellal? I guess I shouldn't be surprised, it nearly killed him.'_

"Where should we meet then?" Lucy asked.

"I say we meet at your place like always?" Gray suggested casually.

"Like always!? We've only 'met-up' there once!" Lucy exclaimed at the ice-mage's suggestion.

"So it's settled. We'll meet at Lucy's in two days' time. Be sure to be there bright and early." Erza stated, concluding the discussion with the team, earning an annoyed look from Lucy, before turning to Natsu. "Come Natsu, we're going to see if Porlyuscia doesn't have any way to speed up your recovery." She stated, earning no argument from the rose haired mage as the two walked out of the guildhall.

* * *

_**Two Days Later, Late Evening**_

An explosion ruptured throughout the walking city that formerly housed the Nirvit. One that would surely have caused crippling injury to the recipient of the attack; and crippling it was. From the smoke emerged, albeit heavily staggering, a blue haired man; his body now battered and bruised with the abuse he took from using his own body as a shield for another. Namely a rose haired mage who was in shock at the man's actions.

"W-why?" Natsu stuttered out, completely confused as to why the blue haired man shielded him from the attack, when not more than two months before, the very same man was trying to kill him.

The man didn't answer. The only sound coming from him was the heavy breathing as he slowly fell to his knees, losing his remaining strength. "I…I may not remember what I did, b-but…just from hearing of it from Erza…I want to redeem myself." He gasped weakly, having now fallen onto his back as he looked up to the rose haired mage.

Natsu for his reaction was kind of mixed. On one hand, this very man, Jellal Fernandes, formerly tried to use Erza to revive Zeref, was a bitter enemy. On the other hand, this man lost his memories; and from what he could tell, his personality was very similar to which Erza described the blunette before his 'change'. As the dragon slayer looked down on the fallen man, he noticed a…golden glow starting to envelope his hand. "What are you doing?" he asked cautiously, still untrusting of the amnesiac.

Jellal didn't respond immediately, opting to focus on forming the magic in his hand. In thought, he was surprised the other man not far from them hasn't attacked them yet. '_Perhaps he's just playing, waiting for us to act before trying to finish us off._' He thought. In a brief moment, the gathering of magic was complete, a ball of golden flames now hovered slightly over his hand. "This…this is the **Flame of Rebuke**. Accept it…and you will defeat Zero." He responded, his breathing getting heavier from using the remainder of his magic power to form the ball of flames.

"Hahahahah! That's your ace!?" A dark skinned man with wavy white hair and blood red eyes maniacally laughed out, before pointing to Natsu. "Go ahead, accept the flames boy! You'll be taking on the sins of that man! The man who sacrificed countless people, just to fail in resurrecting Zeref!"

Natsu took in what the seemingly insane man told him, his head slightly looking down; effectively using his hair to cast a shadow over his eyes. Jellal took notice of this and had to speak quickly (as he could). "If…if not for me…or you, then…do it for Erza. This man is stronger than me or you. If you can't accept what I offer, we may all very well die." He explained solemnly. He knew it was a dirty move to bring the red-head into the conversation, but he had to push the rose haired mage to action before Zero decided waiting was too much and took them both out before Natsu could consume the flames.

This prompt a reaction from Natsu, one that was almost anger but quickly relented. '_Maybe I should. Ever since he lost his memories he's been nothing but selfless. Protecting others…me…without any care for himself.'_ He thought as he gave one quick look at Zero who was starting to get impatient. He took one last look at Jellal, "Alright." He said as he leant down slightly and stretch out his hand to Jellal's which connected in what could look like a 'handshake'.

The effect was immediate. The golden flames enveloped Natsu, who immediately started undergoing changes. His pupils became slits accompanied with his iris turning yellow followed by scales forming near his eyes. Lastly his magic power, as one could explained, 'exploded' with such force that even Zero was pushed back briefly from the sheer force; a force that brought him shock as he almost thought he was staring at a real dragon.

"What!? This…This is **Dragon Force**!? The final but most powerful state of a dragon slayer?" He exclaimed to no one in general, stepping back slightly. He himself, with all his power, knew that fighting a dragon slayer with **Dragon Force** was **not** going to be easy. "Ha! You think you'll win just because you've boosted your magic power? **Dark Capriccio**!" He shouted as he fired a beam of darkness towards the powered up Natsu who simply…disappeared?

Unknown to Zero, Natsu quickly rematerialized behind him, covered in flames as he brought back his fist to the unsuspecting mage. "**Fire Dragon's Iron Fist**!" He shouted as he brought his flame power fist into the back of the dark mage's skull, sending the man stumbling forward.

"Gah! You! How di-Why you!?" Zero shouted, now angry at the fire mage's 'surprise' attack, as he sharply turned around to swipe at the mage with a simply magic infused hand; only to pass through the rose haired mage.

Upon the moment Zero's hand passed through, Natsu arched his foot back and brought it forward, "**Fire Dragon's Claw**!" The fire enveloped kick hit Zero hard in the stomach sending the dark mage towards the wall of the chamber they were ending, landing not far from the still immobile Jellal.

The dust settled and Zero shakily got to his hands and knees, blood oozing from his mouth from the impact. "H-how…not moments before, he couldn't even come close to touching me and was almost out of magic power. How…how could he be overwhelming me this badly, just from eating some fire!?" He question, enraged with himself. He looked over to the direction of Natsu and what he saw made his eyes widen. Natsu calmly but slowly walked towards him, fire still heavily enveloping his body, but slowly destroying the surrounding ground around him; a look of sheer anger in his eyes. _'Is this fear? Am I afraid of this…this boy!? No! Impossible! I'm the strongest!' _Zero shakily got up to his feet before turning fully to face the dragon slayer. "You think you've won just because you got two good hits on me?! Think again!" He dove at the dragon slayer, temporarily catching the Fairy Tail mage by surprise as he felt a hand on his abdomen, but the force of which it touch him, sent him to the opposite wall.

Unsurprisingly to Zero, Natsu casually got out of the debris caused by his impact to the wall, only to feel…different. He looked down to where Zero…**hit** him to notice…markings.

"Hahahah! You noticed already I see. Yes! I put a **Self-Destruction** sequence on your body! Only I know the cancellation code thanks to Brain!" Zero explained, now regaining his maniacal laughter at the belief of victory being in his hands. "All you can do is just wait and die!"

Natsu was surprised at this. He didn't know much about the **Self-Destruction** spell due to specializing in fire magic, specifically his own brand of dragon slayer magic, but was sure that such a complex sequence was very difficult to place on somebody or anything in general at the most briefest touch. However, despite the seemingly dire circumstances, Natsu smirked slightly, which went unnoticed to Zero; instead, Natsu reignited his flames as he started to expel his magic power at an alarming rate.

Zero upon seeing the action of the dragon slayer was confused. "What is he doing?" he asked himself as he had to shield himself from the heat wave, "Is he trying to kill me by raising the temperature of the room? No. That would kill Jellal as well. Perhaps…is he dumbly trying to drain his magic reserves instead?" he continued to ask himself as he tried to see through the fire to the dragon slayer; a sight that soon brought shock to his eyes: The sequence of the **Self-Destruction** spell was...burning away?

"What!? He's able to use his own magic to burn away my spell?! No one should be able to do that!" Zero roared in a mix of confusion and rage as he watched Natsu lower the output of his flames. "What…Who the hell are you!?"

Natsu didn't reply for a moment, opting to take the time to decide his next attack. "I am Natsu Dragneel," He answered, before refocusing his flames to their highest output; crouching in the process. "Fire Dragon Slayer of Fairy Tail!" Natsu finished with a roar before launching his attack, "**Crimson Lotus: Phoenix Blade**!" and with that, Natsu dove at blinding speeds towards Zero who failed to process that Natsu moved at all; a failure that he would come to greatly regret as Natsu hit him full force with a head butt, launching him in to the Lacrima core of one of Nirvana's legs.

* * *

_**A Few Moments Later**_

It was following his defeat of Zero did Natsu realize that he was supposed to time it's destruction with the rest of the Alliance; a realization that almost caused him to panic until Nirvana, quite literally, started to collapse due to the near simultaneous destruction of its other Lacrima cores. Unfortunately, Natsu couldn't 'bathe', in both his victory, and relief, as he was exhausted. Instead, he sluggishly trudged over to the now sitting Jellal and collapsed against the wall.

"Good job…Natsu." Jellal commented.

"Hah….No problem." Natsu panted. "You wouldn't happen to have any fire would ya? Being tired sucks."

Jellal just deadpanned on the question. "You forget I just used all my magical power to enable you to defeat Zero right?

"Oh….oh yeah." Natsu answered laughing softly to himself for having forgotten already, "Anyways…I'm gonna take a nap now. Wake me up when the others find me." Natsu requested before falling into a light slumber.

'_He considered me his enemy up until a few moments ago and yet…he's acting so casually around me. Why?'_ Jellal thought in wonder. "Hmm, well, it doesn't matter for now."

"Actually, on second thought, I think I can stay up long enough to make it home." Natsu abruptly stated, already awake, as if he never fell asleep; startling Jellal out of his musings.

"Very well, let us find the others. I'm sure they're wondering where we are." Jellal commented with a smile as he pushed himself off the ground. As he reached his full height, he waited for a moment for the rose haired dragon slayer to rise to his own feet, however, upon seeing the Salamander struggle to stay standing, Jellal opted to kneel down slightly to aid the young man; slinging Natsu's arm around his neck as he put his own arm around Natsu's back before the two started their trek back to the others.

* * *

_**Minutes Later, Outside**_

"Have any of you seen Natsu or Jellal?" Erza asked, with concern written on her face, as she came walking from the ruins of Nirvana. Following the destruction of the Lacrimas, no one had heard from them which greatly worried her; a worry that was quite understandable as no one else faced Zero, meaning the two of them likely did.

"Worry not my honey! I shall care for you while we search for them!" A short stout man with spiky orange hair shouted as he started to hit on the worried Titania again. An advance that comically disgusted the scarlet haired woman as she retorted by equipping a metal gauntlet and socking the man in the face; sending him a short distance away, effectively knocking him out cold.

"I told you, I'm taken." Erza replied as she quickly sent away her metal gauntlet in disgust for touching the man's face, even if it was to punch him.

"I'm sorry Miss Scarlet, but I haven't seen them." A small, dark blue haired girl timidly apologized as she approached the woman.

"Actually, there they are." Gray pointed towards the Nirvana ruins; earning a look of hope from Erza as she turned to face the two oncoming figures, namely Natsu who was supporting himself on Jellal's shoulder by wrapping his arm around the blue haired man's neck.

Erza was about to runs towards the two until she saw a barrier get erected around her, Natsu, Jellal, and the rest of the alliance; one that she realized was set up for a short while. "Nobody move! With your cooperation, this will only be a moment!" A male voice rang out, followed by the sounds of marching; indicating this 'man' had quite the number of people with him.

Gray simply turned the voice, "And who the hell are you?" He asked, without a care if the man was of authority or not.

"I am Lahar, Head Captain of the Custody Enforcement Unit under the newly reformed Magic Council. I am here to apprehend the members of Oracion Seis: Brain, Midnight, Cobra, Angel, Racer, and Hoteye." He stated with absolute authority, leaving no argument to be had with the guild mages.

Hoteye, the only member dark guild to be present, having 'turned to the light' stepped forward, fully willing. "It's a shame really." The man started, "I'm truly ashamed of my actions and I will accept repentance. I just hope, I can find my brother should I get out." The man finished, lamenting slightly.

Jura Neekis, who overheard this, stepped to the man. "Who was you're brother. I will personally set out to find him. "

"His name is Wally Buchanan." He replied, as he was about to enter the prison carriage that was in front of him.

"I know Wally." Erza stepped up, with Natsu and Jellal besides her. "He was at the Tower of Heavan and is now traveling the country."

Though, to some this would be an ordinary answer, but to the geometrically shaped face man, this answer meant the world to him as he started to cry; regardless of his cries, he still walked into the cart. "Thank you."

Lahar who eyed the man enter the cart, looked back at the group. "And the rest of the dark guild?"

"Probably still lying around in or around the ruins of Nirvana" Natsu answered with a grin, finally building enough strength to stand on his own.

"I see, then that concludes our business here, except one thing." Lahar started, earning a curious look from the nearby mages. "Jellal Fernandes. You are coming with us."

"WHAT!?" The group of mages exclaimed. Jura Neekis himself even responded, having come to respect the amnesiac mage, forgiving him of his past sins.

Lahar, for slightly puzzled at their reaction, but nonetheless retained his impassive look. "This man, as you know, was responsible for the Tower of Heaven, the firing of Etherion, and the destruction of the former magic council. He is a felon, and therefore deserves to be locked away."

"But he doesn't remember anything! He lost his memory!" Natsu roared, outraged that the man who saved his life, almost losing his own in the process, as well as enabling him to defeat Zero and destroy Nirvana, was being arrested for crimes and actions he couldn't remember. "If it wasn't for him, Nirvana would have destroyed Wendy's guild and who knows what else!"

"I agree with Dragneel. The Jellal you see here is not the Jellal that was responsible for those crimes." Jura stepped in, slightly hoping his status as a Wizard Saint would sway the Head Captain's mind.

"Whether or not he remembers his own actions is irrelevant. Then and now don't matter. What matters is that this man, regardless of how own memory, performed the actions I stated earlier and **will** be punished for them." Lahar explained, harshly, closing his eyes as he tried to fight the headache that would surely form from arguing to three different guilds as to why he was arresting the man.

What Lahar didn't expect was a rise in magic power; causing the man to open his eyes and turned to the source; the source being Natsu whose flames, upon igniting, were starting to envelope him. However, what surprised him, was the fact that scales were starting to form on his skin.

From the sides, Wendy was startled. '_Can he activate his __**Dragon Force**__ at will?'_ she thought, thinking that first generation dragon slayers like herself and Natsu required a form of 'stimulate' to activate the form.

"I won't let you take our comrade and friend!" Natsu stated firmly, with Gray preparing his Ice Magic, Lucy summoning Loke, and even Jura focusing his own magic.

"That's enough." Jellal stated, as he gently pushed his way through the mages towards Lahar. "I will come with you." Earning a small sight of relief from Lahar, as he would rather not have to both fight and arrest the mages, even if they are exhausted.

"What are you doing Jellal!?" Natsu roared, the scales having receded already as well as his flames; apparently lacking the magic power to sustain both.

"Atoning for my sins." Jellal answered simply. "And if this is the way, so be it."

Natsu took a look back at Erza who stood frozen through the affair, tears starting to brim at her eyes. Natsu understood her pain, having learned from her how much Jellal had, at one point, meant to her. This alone, made him have the strength to say his next sentence, regardless of the clutching feeling in his chest. "Erza needs you!"

Those three words, stopped the blue haired man before he reach the cart. A moments silence ensued before anything was said. "Speak now Jellal, I'll allow it, for after you enter this cart, you will likely never see any of your friends again." Lahar stated with a very slight look of empathy.

Jellal gave a short nod the man, closing his eyes in the process as he sighed and turned to Natsu. "I may not remember everything…or anything at all before this event, but…the way she looks at you tells me she needs you more than she will ever need me. Yes, I don't remember anything I did, but the guilt I carry for my actions are still there. This is my life…and this is the atonement for my sins; don't deny me that at least." Jellal explained, earning and gapped expression from the dragon slayer and a look of shock from Erza. Jellal turned and entered the cart, stopping just as he reached the 'seat' before turning back to Natsu. "Take care of her for me, Natsu." He requested before looking at Erza. "Now I remember…Scarlet. The color of your hair…so I would never forget." He commented with a smile, before Lahar shut the door of the cart.

"Let's move out. We still have the rest to gather." Lahar ordered his men as they all turned and started their march towards the ruins of Nirvana to gather the remaining members of Oracion Seis; leaving a solemn Alliance and a distraught Titania who clung to Natsu who held her tight as she cried for the loss of her childhood friend.

* * *

**Not too great at fights still I see. Hopefully that may improve in the future.**

**Trying a new thing where I just separate the Author Notes from the story with the horizontal line, hope that makes it more...neat. Anyways, next chapter will probably jump right into the Edolas Arc. As to what will all go on in it. Not sure, I make it up as I go along (probably not the brightest idea, but it's how I've been doing my stories so far). The next chapter may go into the Tenrou Arc a bit as well as I have an idea that will better work if I made it it's own chapter. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. The next chapter may be delayed as I have finals as well as going on vacation for a little over two weeks. If you enjoyed the story/chapter, feel free to favorite/follow it or leave a review. If you have questions or suggestions, either leave them in a review or shoot me PM, I'll be sure to answer it. Later guys!**


	10. Catching A Break-Not Really

**Alright, I'm sorry for how long this chapter took and I don't have a really good excuse. Kind of just got...stuck. That and after taking so long school started up and I ended up with little - no free time and only worked on some smaller stories. My apologies for that again. Anyways, here is the 10th Chapter to the story, I also apologize in advance that this chapter is not as long as my other ones, I was at the point I kind of wanted to upload the chapter (little cut off and so I can skip to the next part). Enjoy!**

* * *

Talking – "Quotations"

Thoughts –_ 'Italics with contractions'_

Important words, people, etc. – **Bold**

Spells – **Underlined and bold**

_**The Life of a Dragon and Knight**_

_**Chapter 10: Catching a Break...Not Really**_

In the end, all of the members of Oracion Seis were arrested by the newly reformed Magic Council. However, despite the 'good' of this news, the 'bad' was that an additional man was arrested; namely an amnesiac Jellal Fernandes. The alliance was shaken and upset at his arrest, especially given his inability to remember his wrong-doings. However, a certain scarlet haired woman was much more affected by his arrest; indirectly affecting her rose haired companion.

Nearly an hour later, Natsu found the woman sitting on a small hill next to a creek with a saddened look on her face; her arms wrapped around her knees. "Feeling better?" The rose haired mage asked, with concern heavily lacing his tone.

"I'll live." came Erza's short reply, as she didn't even look back at him.

"Alright then. Listen, if you wish, you can stay here but the rest of us are going to take Wendy back to her guild." Natsu explained, earning a nod from the Titania. With the gesture he received, Natsu figured there was nothing left to say on the matter, and so he turned to leave before he heard her speak.

"Thank you, Natsu."

Natsu turned his head to the scarlet haired woman in surprise. _'Thank you? What for?'_ He thought as he tried to remember what he did to earn the thanks of the woman. "For what?" he finally asked after a short moment.

"For sticking up for Jellal despite what he did to us; for what he was going to do to me." Erza replied, with a smile starting to show on her face; a smile that was genuine, though was still transparent enough to see the sadness beneath.

"Well…" Natsu stopped as he tried think of way to explain his next words, "to be honest, at first I was still upset; he did try to sacrifice you to resurrect Zeref after all. However, during my fight with Zero, Jellal willingly put himself in front of his attacks to protect me and ultimately gave me the power to defeat him; it was then I decided to give him a chance. Besides, he was a childhood friend of yours. If having him near you makes you happy, then I will gladly fight for his freedom; for your sake." He explained with sincerity.

Even though Erza didn't give a reaction, at least, not one he took notice of, Natsu knew his words affected her in what he considered a good way. With a final glance, he turned to walk back to the group of mages. "I'll be back shortly." Natsu waved off as he left, already turned away so he couldn't see the smile forming on the red haired woman's face.

* * *

_**The Next Day, Fairy Tail**_

"…Aaaand welcome to the guild Wendy!" Mira congratulated as she lifted the blue Fairy Tail stamp from Wendy's right arm; earning a cheer from the rest of the guild at having gained a new member, a member who was also a Dragon Slayer.

"T-thank you Miss Mirajane." Wendy stuttered, nervous at how many people were surrounding her, cheering.

"It's not a problem. Just call me Mira, you're family now." Mira assured with a soft smile.

"If you need a place to stay Wendy, Natsu and I have spare bedrooms at our place." Erza stated as she suddenly appeared next the blue haired girl. "Unless you'd rather stay at Fairy Hills of course. You'll miss out on Natsu's cooking though." Erza said the last part someone quieter, not wanting to share the food Natsu made with others.

"I don't want to intrude." Wendy replied timidly poking both her index fingers together.

"Nonsense!" Natsu butted in next to Erza. "There's no such thing when it comes to family!" he further exclaimed, not noticing Erza's cheeks dusting with pink at the thought of **when** family could intrude.

"Thank you very much." Wendy thanked whole heartedly, before looking around in confusion. "Uhm, where's Carla." She asked, referring to her white Exceed companion that always accompanied her.

"Ah, it seemed that Happy has taken a liking to her and dragged her off somewhere." Mirajane answered quickly, getting giddy at the thought of Happy quickly falling in love.

In the background of all the chatting was one black haired Dragon Slayer, comically lamenting at how he was the only one of the three Fairy Tail Dragon Slayers to not have an Exceed companion._ '__Why?! Why am the only one without one? Even Salamander has one! It's not fair!'_

"It looks like Happy won't return to be our companion at all, at this rate." Erza commented with a slight laugh when she saw Natsu's reaction, his hair down casting a shadow down the majority of his face as well as a prominent, comical pout written on his face.

"I'm glad to see everyone is welcoming Wendy warmly." An elderly, but still powerful voice spoke; causing Wendy as well as the nearby members to look at the voice.

"Ah! Master, you've finished the paper work for the council?" Mira inquired, knowing the Guild master's habit of either procrastinating on paperwork or burning it before giving it to Natsu.

A small sweat drop ran down the old man's face before he coughed into his hand. "Yes, well. I have yet to finish." He started, taking note of the small frown that was starting to show on Mira. "However, I figured it could wait. I want to make sure little Wendy here settled in nicely." He finished his explanation before turning his gaze directly to the girl. "How do you like it here so far Wendy?"

"F-fine. Everyone has been very nice and Natsu and Erza have offered to let me stay with them." Wendy answered timidly, earning a wide smile from Makarov.

"So cute!" A shout of glee rang, before Wendy was brought into a squeezing hug from another blunette, namely Levy McGarden; causing the young Dragon Slayer to comically pass out from lack of oxygen as a spirit hang from the air above her mouth.

"Well it looks like Wendy will settle in just fine here." Erza commented, earning a nod of agreement from her Dragon Slayer partner.

"NOW LETS GET THIS PARTY STARTED!" Makarov roared, earning cheers from the entirety of the guild.

"EH!? But the girl is unconscious already!"

* * *

_**A Couple Days Later, Natsu &amp; Erza's House**_

A small groan came from Wendy as she awoke in a nice comfortable bed, courtesy of the Salamander and Titania. While her bed at Cait Shelter wasn't bad, it didn't compare to the bed she was in now; it felt like she slept for an entire day and was ready to take on the world.

"Wendy! Breakfast is done!" A female voice, whom Wendy quickly identified as Erza, called.

It only took minutes for the young Dragon Slayer to get ready, not being one to focus a terrible amount of time on her appearance, she quickly got downstairs to see Natsu at the stove cooking food while Erza was already at the table eating.

"It's just simple pancakes today, hope that's ok Wendy." Natsu stated as he brought a plate over with two pancakes on top of each other to the girl.

"That's fine. I've never tried them though." Wendy stated.

"Trust me, you'll like them." Erza started as she just finished her food. "Natsu is a very good cook." She finished, getting up to take her plate to the sink before turning to back to see Wendy's plate … empty? "Uh…Natsu? I think we're going to need more pancakes."

"Why, did she accidently dropped them?" Natsu asked, before turning away from the stove to also see Wendy's empty plate. "That good huh?"

Wendy's face turned slightly red despite the almost content look it had as she watched Natsu bring a few more pancakes over, before resuming what he was doing. "Natsu."

"Yeah? What is it this time?" Natsu asked, almost annoyed, just wanting to finish cooking so he could eat as well.

"Is it common, amongst Dragon Slayers, to have big appetites?" Erza asked in astonishment.

"I don't know, before Gajeel, I didn't know an-" He stopped as he looked to see Wendy's plate to be empty yet again. "I guess it is." He sighed as he took the rest of the stack he had finished cooking and brought them over to girl; opting to go catch something to eat later.

"There's someone coming." Wendy noted, as the plate was set down in front of her; her enhanced sense catching the scent of someone nearing the house. Erza in response looked to Natsu who nodded in confirmation. "It's weird, it seems so…familiar."

Hearing that last part, Natsu along with Erza went to the front door to open it, revealing tall man wearing a dark blue cloak with staves strapped to his back. "Mystogan?"

Said man, gave a small nod to Natsu and Erza before turning to the little girl next to them. "I heard a young girl who was a Dragon Slayer joined." He spoke somewhat quietly, somewhat surprising Natsu and Erza as the man almost never spoke. "It's been a long time...Wendy."

Shock erupt in the young girls eyes, confused as to how this man knew her. It took her a moment to realize, the scent, how he knew her. "J-Jellal?"

In response to this, Mystogan, or as he was called by Wendy, Jellal, got down on one knee and tugged at his mask, pulling it off to reveal blue hair as well as a tattoo under his right eye. "Indeed." He spoke softly with a smile crossing his features. He was caught off-guard by the young girl embracing him tightly. "It's nice to see you again Wendy."

"Where were you?" The young girl asked her head still buried in the blue haired man's shoulder.

"I was busy." He answered plainly. "It wasn't safe for you to be around me."

"How do you know Wendy, Mystogan? Erza asked, quite curious as to how the recluse S-Class Mage from Fairy Tail knew the young Dragon Slayer.

"Well, it will relate to what I actually came here to tell you." Mystogan started. "To start with, I'm not from this world. I am from a world like this one called Edolas; so it's easier to say I'm basically the counterpart of the Jellal Fernandes you knew. Anyways, as I said, this world is like Earthland but the prime difference is that magic in Earthland is limitless while in Edolas, it is not. In Earthland, magic is inside us, in creatures. It can be used and given time, replenishes. In Edolas, magic is not in people or creatures, it is in objects, the air. It can be used, but it will never replenish. I came to Earthland as young boy to stop the king of Edolas from stealing the magic from Earthland to fuel his kingdom via turning people, amongst other things, into lacrima. Early in my travels I met Wendy, who was recently left by her foster mother. We traveled for a time together until I had to leave her in the care of a guild to pursue my goals as it was too dangerous to be with me at the time."

"And what exactly were you doing?"

"Disrupting the means in which the King can fuel his kingdom. He uses portals that connect our world to his; which is the primary reason for why I carry these staves around."

A small moment of silence aired throughout the room as the trio processed the information the S-Class Mage explained to them. It was quite a shock to learn that not only that there was a parallel world of sorts to their own, but that the reason Mystogan never spent any time at the guild was to ensure Edolas would not harm their world to restore their magic.

A low, but very prominent rumble echoed through the air, causing a subtle vibration in the house; earning the curiosity of the four mages.

"Earthquake?" Natsu asked.

Mystogan's eyes narrowed as he had a possible hunch as to what the source of the sound was. He turned to the still opened door and looked outside towards Magnolia. His eyes widened in shock before turning into a sneer. "Damn! I'm too late! Doesn't he care he's murdering innocent lives!?"

Erza came over to also catch a look outside only to see exactly what Mystogan saw: Magnolia was turned into a giant Lacrima and was currently floating into the sky towards a massive rift in the sky. "I-is that…?"

"Anima."

Natsu's face warped into a look of sheer anger as he too came over to view the event. "What's going to happen to everyone!?"

"They will be transported back to Edolas. From there the King will essentially use the guild, along with everyone in Magnolia as an energy source for Magic. A process that ends with their death." Mystogan answered solemnly.

Wendy started to tear up slightly at that answer. "Doesn't everyone know about this?"

"No. The people are ignorant in the ways of which the King attains magic. They have become too dependent on it. They would think that he would find magic elsewhere in the world and not slaughter millions of people to get magic power."

Erza stood in shock of how anyone could do this, let alone accept it as perfectly natural. Her shock however was broken when Natsu pushed passed her and Mystogan walking heatedly towards the remnant of Magnolia. "Natsu, where are you going?"

Natsu didn't stop walking. He only turned slightly and growled. "I'm going to see if anyone is still around, then I'm getting our friends back."

Watching Natsu walk off, Erza turned to Mystogan. "Is there some way to get our friends back?"

"Yes. It will be very difficult, we may fail; but yes it is possible. I'd advise that should we go there, to keep close watch on Natsu. A dragon slayer is a priceless possession given their infinite magic reserves in Edolas and they will do everything in their power to capture him and use his magic to power the kingdom."

Erza's face twisted to a frown as she stared directly at the Edolas Mage, "That **won't** happen. I won't let it."

A small smile graced the blue haired man's face as he heard those words; so like that of a Fairy Tail Mage to say. "Alright then, let's get our friends back."

* * *

**Hope you liked the chapter! Again, I am sorry I did not make it as long as I usually do, couldn't pull through this time. I was planning on writing out a portion of the Edolas arc, but I'm at the point now I just want to skip it and start on where most of my ideas reign (S-Class Trials to 7-Year time skip) which is where I'll will further deviate from the canon. Anyways, I will not guarentee a date for the next chapter, it will simply happen when it happens. If I find myself unable to finish, I'll at least let you all know. Anyways, if you liked the Chapter and/or Story so far, feel free to follow/favorite or leave a review. If you have questions or suggestions leave that in a review as well or shoot me a PM. I'll see you all next time!**


	11. Edolas

**Hello everyone! I'm back again with another chapter! Life is settling down as I have a new place to live in, though I don't move in for another few months. I originally didn't want to write out the whole Edolas Arc, and I still didn't, but I did MUCH more than I originally intended. Hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

Talking – "Quotations"

Thoughts –_ 'Italics with contractions'_

Important words, people, etc. – **Bold**

Spells – **Underlined and bold**

_**The Life of a Dragon and Knight**_

_**Chapter 11: Edolas**_

By the time they arrived at the remnants of Magnolia a thunderstorm seemed to have washed over the 'missing' town; though this didn't impede the three mages in their goal to check for survivors.

"Everyone's gone." Wendy commented solemnly. She figured there would be nobody here but to actually see it for her own eyes tore her apart.

Natsu stopped all of a sudden. "Wait. I smell…two people."

Wendy perked up as she too used her enhance sense of smell to confirm Natu's statement. "Yes…I smell them too."

Erza walked up to Natsu with a hopeful look, "Who are they?"

"Lucy and Gajeel" Natsu answered before he turned to Wendy and Mystogan, "Go get Gajeel, he's just over there," He stated to the two blunettes as he pointed in the direction of the Iron Dragon Slayer, "Erza and I will get Lucy."

"Hold on a moment. I almost forgot to mention that since Magic is not 'in' people, that means you, Erza, will not have your magic when you get there." Mystogan interrupted, before he pulled out a small container. "These, however, will enable you to keep your Magic"

Erza took a moment to look at the container, It was a clear flask of sorts filled with red pills. It seemed weird to her that she would have to ingest something just to be able to use Magic in a different dimension, but she couldn't complain if it helped get her friends back. "Alright, give me an extra so Lucy can have it; she will be invaluable once we arrive."

The Edolas Mage gave a nod as he gave the redhead two pills before she and Natsu left to find the Celestial Spirit mage.

* * *

It all happened so fast for her. One moment she was talking to Gray at the guildhall about taking a job together as Natsu and Erza were not at the hall as often. The next…she woke up in Horologium before he opened up and let her fall to the now wet ground.

"Oi! Lucy!" A familiar voice called out to her amongst the rain hitting the ground hard. She looked up to see Natsu and Erza running to her.

"N-Natsu! Erza! What happened? Where is everyone?" The blonde asked as she looked around to find…nothing.

"It's a long story Lucy, we've no time to explain right now." Erza answered as she walked to the mage before helping her up. "Take this, it will let you keep your magic where we're going. Just know that we need to save our friends and all of Magnolia."

Lucy was very much confused, but she decided to trust the two mages as they've never given her a reason to doubt them. She grabbed the red pill and put in her mouth before swallowing. "Can you give me the gist of what's going on as we leave?"

Erza nodded as she and Natsu led her back to Mystogan and Wendy so they could travel to Edolas to save their friends.

* * *

_**About A Day Later, Edolas**_

"You're just digging your own grave Scarlet!" Knightwalker yelled out as she clashed blades with her Earthland counterpart. "Once I'm done with you, I'll take your Natsu for myself!"

Erza glared at the mage with anger. She wouldn't let this woman, counterpart or not, to take **her** Natsu. "Give it up Knightwalker! I've already beaten you! Even Natsu was able to equal you and I'm stronger than him!" Erza yelled back, opting to hopefully end this pointless fight so she could assist Natsu and the other two Dragon Slayers in fighting King Faust.

The Royal Army Captain's anger peaked at that. She would not, could not, acknowledge that both her counterpart and her counterpart's partner have bested her on two different occasions; even if the Magic in her Ten Commandment had long since dried up in her last encounter. She would not stop until both laid dead at her feet. "No! I will personally see to it that you both die here!"

Seeing as Knightwalker was blinded by her rage, Erza quickly jumped away from the enraged redhead before requiping into her Flight Armor, the light fading away to reveal Erza looking what some could consider nothing more than a bikini with cheetah like patterns on it with ears and a tail.

Knightwalker could not believe what she saw. '_She's not even taking me seriously!_' She thought angrily. "What are you going to do? Purr until I die?!" She asked angrily before she charged at the Fairy Tail mage.

Erza took this opportunity to strike. '_She's wide open!_' She thought quickly as she quickly vanished from view, catching the Royal Army Captain's surprise as she quickly stopped her charge to regain vision of her opponent. '_Damn! Where'd she run off-_' Knightwalker's unfinished question to herself was answered when she felt a sharp strike to the back of her neck; quickly causing her world to turn black as she felt limply to the ground.

Erza gave a sigh as she stood victorious over her counterpart; she didn't anticipate using as much magic as she did. Though by no means low, she would be in trouble if she let the fight drag on for much longer. She needed all she had to help Natsu. With that she turned to see Natsu along with Gajeel and Wendy fending off King Faust who now was using what looked like to be a mechanical Dragon. She had faith in Natsu's abilities but she couldn't help the fear that welled up inside her as she requipped into her Black Wing Armor to fly towards the battlefield.

* * *

"**You little insects! You actually manage to damage ****Dorma Anim****! How!? How is that possible!?**" Faust yelled as he glared angrily at the three Dragon Slayers; two of which were grinning madly.

"You forget that we are Dragon Slayers old man!" Natsu called out.

"And our Magic is specifically for killing dragons!" Gajeel finished for Natsu.

It had dawned on Faust that they were indeed Dragon Slayers. His Dragon had armor to nullify all Magic used against it with the exception of Dragon Slayers. He had entirely forgotten about it. He would have to end this fast. "**Very well. I will have to kill you quickly then. LET'S SEE YOU SURVIVE AGAINST THIS!**" The mad-king shouted from his armor as the mechanical Dragon started to build up a high amount of Magic. '_This will take most of what little Magic Edolas has left, this better work!'_

Gajeel and Natsu were ready. The fight against the Dragon, while very difficult, wasn't impossible to fight. Their Magic held true that only they could fight the **Dorma Anim**. So when they saw the Dragon started to build up Magic as it craned its neck back, they thought little of it until it dawned on Gajeel as to what was going to happen next.

"Salamander, take the brat and run!" Gajeel yelled to Natsu who was closest to Wendy. He was too late as he heard the release of Magic just moments before it fired.

It moved too fast for Natsu to really move himself and Wendy. He and Wendy were going to be hit directly by the blast and potentially Gajeel as well due to his relatively close proximity. He only stared defiantly at his potential oncoming doom as the light enveloped his vision.

Nothing came. Only the grunts of a female knight were heard as Natsu's vision refocused to allow him to see Erza taking the mechanical Dragon's Roar head on with her Adamantine Armor equipped.

'_I'll not stand by and let you fight this without me Natsu!_' Erza thought to herself as she fought tooth and nail to keep her shield up. The only 'major' problem she now faced was, while the Jupiter Canon from Phantom Lord was stronger, this one showed no signs of weakening. '_Agh…Dammit!_'

Quickly moving Wendy safely from the area of the Roar, Natsu quickly ran back towards Erza as he noticed her Magic starting to wane; her feet now starting to give out from under her. It was with great luck on his part that he was able to tackle Erza out of the way before the entirety of her Magic was used up along with her armor being completely destroyed by the Roar.

To Faust, it seemed as if he finally killed the Earthland Mages; if the huge explosion that erupted was anything to go by. "**Finally it's over. There's almost no magic left." **Faust commented to himself as he found the **Dorma Anim** was starting to shut down on him.

"Not quite!" A voice shouted from the smoke as it slowly dissipated to reveal the trio of Dragon Slayers with Natsu supporting Erza.

"**Im...Impossible! How could you survive that!?**" Faust roared, not believing that the Fairy Tail Mages could survive the blast.

"You underestimate us. That's all there is to it." Erza said firmly, despite her exhaustion.

Gajeel grinned as he spoke up. "It also seems like your dragon is running on fumes!"

Faust sweat dropped at that statement. Oh how true it was that **Dorma Anim** was basically useless and could barely be used for movement. He wasn't sure if he should be the wise one to back down and acknowledge his defeat or go down fighting.

"Please father, stop this madness." A voice he hadn't heard for a long time as he struggled to turn the mechanical Dragon to come face with his long-absent son, with a certain red haired Royal Army Captain being supported with his arm.

"J...Jellal? What are you doing here?" Faust asked in surprise. Though if he were more honest, it made sense he was here. It would explain why up until recently he found it difficult to use **Anima** to gather Magic in the past.

Jellal said nothing for a moment as he helped Erza Knightwalker walk, despite the woman's pride being severely bruised at being helped by a traitor. "I came here to stop you from killing innocent lives. This world isn't going to end if Magic goes away. This world isn't like Earthland where absolute no Magic means the death of a person. Look down below. All the magic is already fading away and yet, despite some protest, everyone lives. It will be a struggle to adapt, yes, but it's not impossible." Jellal pleaded as he let the Royal Army Captain attempt to stand on her own. "Please, end this now."

Faust gave a look towards the rest of the kingdom. Even despite the distance between them, he could tell they could adapt. For all these years he pursued infinite Magic, in doing so, he had lost himself and nearly ended the lives of the very people who his son called 'family'. '_I…what have I done?_' The mad king thought to himself as he opened up **Dorma Anim** to leave. "I…I accept. I am sorry for everything I have ever done. Do with me whatever you deem fit."

Knightwalker gave a look of surprise at her King backing down. "But your Majesty, we can stil-"

"You will do nothing Knightwalker!" Faust roared, cutting the Edolas Erza off as his face took the look of anger before reverting back to a gentler expression; one Jellal very vaguely remembered seeing as a child. "He's right…in my desire to bring about prosperity to our kingdom by restoring its Magic, we…I…would be committing mass genocide."

Erza Knightwalker was shocked at what her King was saying. For years, he ascertained that they would gather magic at **all** cost, even at the cost of other lives; as if committing small scale genocide here and there held no real meaning to him if the very kingdom he ruled could flourish. All of that, crumbled down to nothing. "Of course, your majesty."

Faust looked to the Edolas redhead with slight disgust; not so much for the person, but for the title; the title of king and 'your majesty' suddenly left a bitter taste in his mouth. "I am no King, Knightwalker. If anything, I'm more likened to a murderer, my son would be a much better King."

"Despite your surrender and the sincerity of your words. That does not pardon you from the crimes you have committed over the years." Jellal stated sternly. He was in truth very pleased that his father backed down peacefully, but he could not let his emotions cloud what **must** be done.

The ex-King looked on in understanding, expecting the very worst. "I understand."

Jellal gave some thought; initially he was going to exile him from the kingdom, though he now had a better idea. "I was originally going to exile you from the kingdom, but I had a better idea; one that could help you. From here on, you will serve the public of Edolas **for life**. You will not be welcomed at the Castle for any reason. Is that clear?"

Faust was surprised; both at how quickly his son had taken an voice of authority, even if he wasn't speaking in front of the rest of the kingdom, and at the punishment he was to be given. He had though he would be put to death, exile perhaps; but not life-long public service. He felt relieved nonetheless as he would be able to **truly** help the kingdom, even if it was the menial tasks he could perform in his old age. "I accept. I only ask that Knightwalker as well as the others will be able to serve you faithfully."

Jellal nodded to this. Even without Magic, Knightwalker was an **extremely** skilled combatant; the same could be said about the rest of her unit. "You will start tomorrow, for now, go rest."

As Faust turned to leave, Knightwalker stayed, as she wanted to have a few words with her counterpart. "Scarlet."

Erza pushed off Natsu as she stood straight, "Knightwalker."

Both redheads stood silent at they stared at each other before finally the Edolas Erza spoke up. "Just because you beat me doesn't mean I won't finally get your Natsu for myself."

A smirk of sorts appeared on the Titania's face, "As if he would even leave me for you." She answered defiantly before she smiled softly. "Actually, your Natsu, seems to have been inspired by my Natsu; if he's anything like mine you might just like him enough."

An uncharacteristic blush appeared on the now former Fairy Hunter. "A-as if I'd ever like that cowards."

Erza grinned victoriously at the Edolas redhead's expression. "I don't know, when you look deep down, the two are very similar, even if Dragion has yet to show it fully."

Knightwalker only blushed more as she curse silently to herself as she stalked away. She was getting soft already and she hadn't known the two for more than a day.

Jellal watched in amusement as the former Fairy Hunter stalk off in the same direction of the former Edolas King before he approached Erza and the three Dragon Slayers. "I can't thank you all enough; especially you Natsu and Erza."

Natsu gave his trademark grin "You're family! We would never turn you down!"

"So, is there any way we can actually get home now that all the Magic in Edolas is gone?" Erza questioned with a slight worried look. She had seen some of the sights of the world and she did think it would quite a beautiful place, but it was not home for her.

Jellal gave a slight smile at that, "Actually, magic isn't completely gone, just 'gone enough' that the **Dorma Anim** would not operate. Tomorrow I will gather the rest of the Magic in Edolas for one final **Anima** use to send you and the rest of Fairy Tail back to Earthland.

"But won't the people hate that?" Wendy asked sadly at how the people will react when their way of living is suddenly taken away from them.

Jellal gave a solemn nod. "Yes, they will hate it. Some may even revolt I'm afraid; but we will get through this. For now however, let's head back to the Castle and prepare for the following day."

The other Fairy Tail Mages followed the new King of Edolas, but Natsu had a thought to further ease the people's transition into living without Magic.

* * *

_**The Next Morning**_

Everyone had gathered; at least, though that partook in recent events that took place the day before. Even the Edolas Fairy Tail had gathered in the Castle with the former Fairy Hunter standing 'suspiciously' close to the guild certain pinkette. All that was missing was the Earthland Fire Dragon Slayer.

"Tch. Where is he? **Anima** will activate any minute now." King Jellal commented. Truthfully he was sure that the **Anima** would pull him through, but he couldn't be entirely sure. His thoughts were cut off when he both heard **and** saw an explosion in the distance. It resembled the very Magic Natsu was known for using.

"What is that idiot doing!?" Erza yelled as she ran off towards the explosion.

Jellal ran after the redhead as he quickly came up with the answer in his mind, '_He's trying to make me seem the hero by defeating him without Magic so they will have hope._'

They arrived on the scene of "The Great Demon Lord Dragneel" causing massive destruction; despite none of the civilians noticing he deliberately avoided harming them. "I have defeated your King! Who else can challenge me!?" Natsu laughed, almost convincingly evilly.

Jellal quickly ran up and landed a solid hit to Natsu, "You fool! What are you doing?" he yelled as Natsu exaggerated his staggering, acting like the attack genuinely hurt; which to him it did, just not as much as he made it seem.

Regaining his balance, The Great Demon Lord Dragneel grinned evilly. "Well, well, well. If it isn't Jellal, the long lost son of King Faust and the Prince to Edolas. So nice of you to show up."

The civilians were in awe that the long since absent prince of Edolas showed up to save them and quickly cheered for him to defeat the Demon Lord.

Jellal ignored the cheering, though he was pleased they accepted his return. "What are you doing Natsu?" He questioned as he charged the 'Demon Lord'.

Natsu grinned as he promptly blocked the halfhearted punch from the Fairy Tail Mage. "First rule of leaving Fairy Tail: You must never reveal sensitive information about Fairy Tail to others for as long as you live."

Jellal's eyes widened as he caught onto what Natsu was doing as he deflected a flaming punch from the Dragon Slayer before 'roughly' punching the man in the gut. "Second, You must never use former contacts met through your being in the guild for personal gain."

Natsu jumped back as he prepared his final 'attack', "And lastly, Though our paths may have diverged, you must continue to live out your life with all your might, you must never consider your own life to be something insignificant…" he spoke before charging at Jellal.

"…And you must never forget about your friends for as long as you live." Jellal finished with a smile as he met Natsu's charge, ducking under a flaming kick before he upper-cutted the Dragon Slayer, 'stunning' him just enough to grab onto him before throwing him roughly into the ground; 'defeating' the 'Demon Lord.'

The audience that was the civilians cheered as their Prince saved them from the Great Demon Lord Dragneel; even if he did steal all their Magic.

At that moment, the ground began to shake as the **Anima** portal opened up and enveloped, Natsu, the Exceed, and the rest of the Fairy Tail members.

As the Earthland Fairy Tail guild members along with the Exceed slowly rose into the sky, Jellal turned back to the people. "I, Jellal have defeated the Great Demon Lord Dragneel! He may have taken out Magic. However, even though we lack Magic Power…we humans will continue to live on!" Jellal shouted victoriously earning the cheers and adore of the people for the Prince who unknown to them would be their new King, as the Earthland Mages and Exceed were pulled up through the sky into the **Anima** portal, disappearing from their world forever.

* * *

Home. They were finally home. Erza smiled as the members of Fairy Tail, along with the Exceed from Edolas were dropped into the Forrest just outside of Magnolia, all safe and sound; and the added bonus is that Magnolia in the distance was back to normal with no evidence of having been turned to Lacrima to begin with.

"Natsu!" A female voice rang out, which caused Erza, as well as the nearby Natsu to turn their head to the voice before a head of white hair popped out of the bushes, revealing Lisanna, who was long since though dead.

"L…Lisanna!?" Natsu stuttered out, with tears slightly forming in his eyes at the sight of his long dead childhood friend.

The pink haired Dragon Slayer was quickly tackled into a hug by the snow haired girl as she yearned to embrace the man who had promised to become her husband when they grew up. Erza for her part was glad that the two were reunited, but had a sick feeling in her stomach for what this meant to her. For now however, she would be happy knowing that Natsu was happy that Lisanna was back.

* * *

**Little bit of a bittersweet ending for Erza there at the end. Don't worry, it will ONLY be Natsu x Erza. The ending was very weak as I was really strained as to what to write out (mostly from the after fight of Faust to the end). Hope it doesn't bother too many of you. The next chapter is one I have been looking forward to writing out for a LONG time, which is one of the reason I started the story to begin with (I know, I only really thought out the BEGINNING and the NEXT chapter of the story before free-writing the rest out). Anyways stay tuned for the next chapter! If you like the story/chapter, feel free to favorite/follow and leave a review. If you have questioned, leave that in the review or shoot me a PM, I'll be sure to answer it. See ya later!**


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